These Days

I'm having a hard time getting new entries posted. Not because I don't have anything to say, but because I feel like if I can't write the "perfect" post about something, and usually in about a 5-10 minute timeframe, I don't write it. Throughout the day, I see things happening around me, or I have thoughts, and I think, "That would make a good blog entry" and then I go about my merry way and never even write it.

So, I've have to rethink my purpose in having a blog, and that was to help me cherish each day with my girls--on good days, yes, but more especially on crazy days, trying days, slow days, sick days, and BLACK days. Black days are the ones that I wish I could just erase from my calendar. They are usually days when I lose my temper, or I am so wrapped up in the latest "emergency" that I neglect to give the attention to my girls that they deserve, or I am overwhelmed and I run around all day trying to catch up from the day before, and by the time I get to the part where I get dressed for the day, it is time for bed--and usually later than I wanted to go to bed in the first place, which bodes evil for the next day as well. But I guess I have black days, partially because I create them for myself by going to bed late, or not planning ahead well enough, but also because I am human and they are part of this earthly experience. Every time they come around, I get to practice being patient, being humble, being charitable, and enduring them WELL.

The other quandary I have with blogging, is finding the balance between recording "real life" and recording what I want to remember in life. If I dwell on the black days, then I tend to have more of them, but if I only blog the positive things, then I feel like I am painting an insincere picture of my life. Is it fair to only paint pictures about the positive days on my blog, or will doing so, actually help me have more positive days? So my question is, how do I stay postive, but stay "real life"? Or am I totally missing the picture altogether? Is there something wrong with me?

So, aside from my own personal struggles, the girls are growing quickly and I love them.

Rain is forever finding little things and poking them places. I should have taken pictures, but whenever I go to use my sewing machine, I find pins poked in all the little holes on the machine, or foil wrappers shoved around the knobs, or jingle bells in the bobbin compartment. She also sprinkled the pins all over the carpet. This might have been okay if they were the decent kind of straight pin with the bright yellow head or something. However, those are still packed somewhere, so I've been using a few cheap, flat-headed, really short pins that I dug out here and there so I could do some sewing. It's a miracle we haven't embedded one in anyone's foot yet.

She also has a certain fascination with "pokies". This includes pins, stitch-pickers, screws, forks, and a myriad of other items that I can't seem to recall at the moment. It you don't believe me, I will issue a warning that you should check anything you are eating at my house before you eat it. See pictures below for a better expanation.

Here is Rain eating an innocent cluster of grapes.

Here is what I found when she was "FINISHED"

Need a closer look?

YUMMY!

Need a little iron in your diet?

Mesa is getting so grown up, too. Since I was on a blogging hiatus and didn't post results from Mesa's last Well-Baby checkup, which was a month and a half ago--ack!--here they are:

Head Circumference: 18"

Length: 30-3/4" ---97th percentile

Weight: 22.2 lbs ---95th percentile

She's been horribly sick for a week now, and doesn't really appear to be improving, even after a round of antibiotics. Not good. I have my suspicions that it might be RSV since there have been some cases popping up. But she has been amazingly good-spirited and I am thankful for that.

(Stealing Rain's sippy and feeling pleased about it.)

Poor sick baby, but still has a smile for Mom.

But I guess that will have to do for now because it is WAAAYY past breakfast and I'm headed into another "already-behind-but-I'm-okay-with-it" kind of day. Thanks for bearing with me through my long and comma-punctuated sentences.