The Power of Prayer

I have always known that prayer is a powerful thing. I have seen some huge prayers answered in my life. I have also gotten to experience a few answered prayers that may not seem like something worth praying about to most people.

My first memory of God answering my prayer was in high school. I was always the last one out of the house in the mornings and this day I was late for school. I had also lost my car keys somewhere in the house. This was a very common occurrence, for you see, I am related to Ginger Hamrick: Queen of Misplaced Items. I always lose stuff, it's in my genes. I was getting so flustered trying to look for my keys, so I stopped, closed my eyes and prayed, "God, look, I am late for school and I cannot find my car keys! Please help me find them..." I stood there for a few more seconds and the next place I looked, there they were! I was actually kind of surprised! What a dumb prayer, why would He care to help me with something so meaningless? It wasn't meaningless to me, I actually laughed out loud and said "THANK YOU GOD! THAT WAS AWESOME!" as I ran to my car. It was kind of huge, it was the first time I really felt like I had proof that God existed! Now, I always believed that He was there, I just never really had anything happen like that and it was kind of weird. From then on I never hesitated to ask for help on the little things in life. It was kind of like talking to a friend.

I bring this up because I don't think I have had more "mini" answered prayers in such a short time before. Since Gunner's birth, there have been tons of moments where I have prayed about something small, and God always answers. My first example is during the delivery. I prayed the whole time that I could make it through, that Gunner would make it through and be healthy, and that it wouldn't take very long. All answered. The other day I was making a big trip to Wal Mart for the first time with him and before I put him in his car seat I prayed that God would keep Gunner calm and happy, that he wouldn't cry while we were out, that I wouldn't stress about him crying, and that I could get everything I needed at the store without looking too hard. All answered. I have prayed about breastfeeding before too! He seems to have a lot of difficulty, and there were a few times where he wouldn't stop crying, and I would pray that God would just help us through this so Gunner could feel better, and as soon as I opened my eyes, he had calmed down. The one that makes me smile every single time happens nearly every night. I'm a worrier. It's another genetic trait I have. The main thing I worry about is if Gunner stops breathing while he's asleep. That's what kept me up most nights in the beginning. I check on him constantly when he's napping, and often during the night. There will be times where I'll be almost asleep, but I can't hear him breathing in his bassinet beside me, and I'm so tired I don't want to roll over to check on him. So I pray "God, help me know that he's ok so I can sleep..." And before I can finish my prayer Gunner will let out a big sigh. Lately, I can just think about it and Gunner will make some sort of noise letting me know he's fine. And every single time, I smile and say "Thanks."

It's pretty amazing to know I have a God who cares about my every day life enough to help me find my car keys when I lose them. I don't need a big bolt of lightening or a pillar of fire to know He's there.

Well guess who went to Wal Mart with a two month old? ME! =)

I have been getting Daniel to get our groceries because I was so hesitant to take Gunner with me. Well it got to the point where we needed LOTS of things from the store and we didn't get to take advantage of getting them during the weekend...so I decided now was as good a time as any! I timed it perfectly. I changed his diaper, fed him, burped him, he dozed off a bit and I stuck him in the car seat! He did wonderful. He slept the whole time.

One thing I did to make it easier was to park near a cart corral. I was able to put his car seat in a cart and push it in instead of carrying him all the way from the car with the cold wind. Much easier!

It was super crowded today also. It's the week of Christmas, and I imagine tons of people have the week off. I still think going during the day was a much better decision than going after 5pm.

I've been able to also get some laundry done and some gifts wrapped! It's been a good day. I seem to do better if I get up before 8am. Speaking of, Gunner slept all night again last night! He went to sleep between 9 and 10pm and didn't wake up until nearly 8am! Such a good boy. =)

Mini Vacation

We took a two day trip to Branson with Mom and Dad! We needed to get away for a little while. It was really fun and Gunner did great. He had a bit of a tummy ache (I've really got to watch my diet...) but other than that, he loved it! We went down Friday afternoon, ate some dinner, got settled at the condo, and on Saturday we went shopping and to Silver Dollar City to see the lights! After that we went through the Trail of Lights and it was beautiful.

















Gunner stayed very warm all weekend. We had him bundled up very well at SDC in the stroller and he slept the whole time!

Naptime

So any time I start to think I've got this parenting thing down, some new challenge presents itself to prove me wrong. That's ok, I need that to happen! I need to learn my way through this. Apparently I am just not smart at all when it comes to this kid. In the beginning, I was up quite a bit with him during the night so any time he was asleep I would try to sleep as well. It slowly got into this schedule where he would go to sleep between 9pm and 11pm, wake up between 5am and 7am, then he would go right back to sleep (as would I) and we would sleep for another 1 to 3 hours. I was unable to get him to really take a nap during the day for longer than 10 minutes, and it would usually only be when I held him. I had to remedy this quickly or else we would be in a seriously bad habit and I would not get anything done during the day.



The other night I had a revelation: What if our morning "back to bed nap" was causing this problem!? EUREKA! That's got to be it! I am convinced. So, yesterday I did not put him back to bed after he woke up. He ended up falling asleep on his own so I stuck him in his crib and what happened? He actually napped in there! First time ever. I was so proud. He slept for an hour! We ended up going to my parents for lunch so I wasn't able to do the afternoon nap the same way, he just slept in the car.



This morning I did the same thing. It was a little different today though. He ended up getting up around 3 30am to nurse last night, so we were back in bed by 4 30, and he slept till nearly 8am. However, I did not put him back to bed after 8 this morning. He was happy and content in his bouncer and dozed off around 9 45. I stuck him in his crib and turned on the mobile, but he just laid there wide awake. Around 10 I swaddled him and he went right to sleep. I'm not going to make him stay in there for an hour, if he wakes up before then that's cool. My goal is really just to get him used to his crib since he sleeps in the bassinet beside our bed. Hopefully within a few weeks he will be in his crib full time. However, this transition may be harder on me than him! I am very anxious about him being in another room at the other end of the house. I'll be glued to the monitor for weeks I'm sure.



*As I was finishing this post, I heard him in his room...low and behold he was awake after only 30 minutes. He didn't cry though, just laid there laughing at his mobile! Sweet boy.

**After I came back to the computer to finish this post, he had fallen asleep again on his own! I am so proud.

No One Mentioned THAT In Their Description Of "Motherhood"...

Before Gunner was born, we got a TON of advice and information from people about being parents. However, since he was born I have quickly discovered a few things that no one told me about...

No one told me that after the delivery I would feel like I had just completed the Ironman without properly training while simultaneously being run over by an eighteen wheeler....

No one said I would lose sleep because I would worry that the baby stopped breathing. They only mentioned losing sleep over non stop crying.

No one explained how amazing it would be to see your kid smile for the first time. It was like Gunner discovered a cure for all diseases or something. So very exciting.

No one told me what to do when your child starts crying in the car when it's just you and him. Talk about distracted driving.

No one said I would get over my fear of other people's feet and actually pick the gunk out from between this kid's toes.....somebody's gotta do it I guess.

No one told me what to do when I get sick. That's where I am today. I am not running a fever, but I feel horrible. Sore throat, runny nose, sneezing, coughing, all the while taking care of a baby who is going through the six week growth spurt/fussies. So he's not himself either. It's a sad situation here in the Babb home. He has also been having some bad reflux issues the past few days. Earlier he spit up so much I actually took off my tshirt to use it as a burp cloth...it was already 40% saturated in spit up anyway...glad I was home when it happened and not at Wal Mart. lol