Tag Archives: Kids

Going Through The Motions

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 30 June, 2014 None comments

Heartache is a horrible thing. The true pain life brings is scary and unpredictable. I thought I knew this world was ugly when I was in college but little did I know how ugly it could really be. The vast waters of sin are beyond my comprehension. Although my eyes have seen but a taste, I can’t fathom the root of where this evil really lays and nor do I want to.

“Our world is so big and scary out there” so they say in all the movies, but if that is true, than how much bigger is our God? How much bigger is our sin? How much bigger is heaven and how much bigger is hell? These are all questions that we get scared to think about, but the fascinating part is, this is all we should think about. Christ came for us, made us and wants to bring us home with Him, yet we get so distracted by the daily troubles of life forgetting about what truly matters.

Thanks to socialshare.com

There was a song on the radio other day that I haven’t been able to shake from my memory. It said this: “I don’t want to spend my whole life asking, what if I had given everything, instead of going through the motions.” I know we all can relate to this on some level or another, especially with different seasons of our life. What a horrible feeling to come to the end of your life wishing you had given it your all…but hadn’t. What if you decide today you will do your best with the Lord’s help? How would your life change, what purpose would you fulfill that you wouldn’t otherwise? What regrets would not be there and how many people might you have touched?

This one sentence brought such conviction to my heart but as the day progressed my motions slide quickly back into routine. I don’t want to let my days be a waste, my conversations be worthless and my mind to be on things that I will never remember the next day, week or months. Being married can help gauge how you are doing. Sometimes this is a good thing and sometimes it’s not. I look back on the past couple years of marriage and see how far we’ve come. But, in the same breath I also see how we haven’t moved at all. Within those feelings I have to separate what matters and what doesn’t. Evaluating the things we’ve come far in; is it worldly items and pleasures, or is it of value? That is a tough answer for me and if I am completely honest it’s a good combination. I would rather it be of value than not. And though my combination of the two may seem good, but if you really think about it, do the worldly things even compare to heavenly things? No, not at all!

This doesn’t mean, don’t be thankful in the little things and the worldly pleasures. Christ created this world to be for His glory. I will admit, my little pleasure on a daily basis is drinking my morning cup of coffee. I get such pleasure in this and I get even more pleasure enjoying it with my husband.

Moment of Truth: Are you going through the motions, not giving it your all? How can you make little changes in your day so that when you lay your head to rest, you have confidence that whatever circumstance come your way, God will say “well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Exhausted Mentally, Emotionally and Physically

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 28 June, 2014 None comments

Boy does the rain never stop in the lives of the Cook’s. We can’t seem to live a life that allows for a breath of fresh air. When we do things we “go big” so to speak. Between my husband and son, these past 2 years, or more specifically the last 6 months have been an utter whirlwind of emotions.

This past weekend was my sons birthday and we headed to the beach to enjoy a nice weekend away and a well needed vacation “from our problems.” Little did we know our problems were going to transpire into an exhausting, scary weekend away from our abode. The evacuation routes you often see when you head to the coast was exactly what we needed this trip…except in the form of a hospital. Unfortunately I saw them when we entered town and bookmarked it in the back of my mind hoping it was my fear stepping in; not reality. Although we tend to frequent hospitals on an all too frequent basis, Ocean Beach Hospital was a step in the right direction.

As we left town Thursday we were driving over the bridge in Portland waving goodbye to Randall Children’s Hospital opting to never arrive there again unless for the delivery of a newborn baby. Well our wish came true this weekend except that it was only granted for the children’s hospital. Stepping foot into an ER at the beach was not excluded from our list of high hopes. The day of Cooper’s 2nd birthday, he came down with a nasty “bug.” I use that word lightly as my son never has symptoms of a common cold except simply not being able to breath or talk. No runny nose, no cough, no sore throat, no ear infections no nothing is ever on the agenda. So when Cooper came down with this nasty little “bug” we were a bit disappointed as it was the day of his birth and we had planned to play most the day at the beach. Well….that did not happen. He was still in high spirits and we still had a great day.

Come evening, I lay him to rest and kissed his little lips. While playing cards with the family I checked on him and noticed he was very wheezy in his breathing; both inhaling and exhaling. It worried me but not enough to let me anxiety kick-in in overdrive. We kept playing cards and headed to bed pretty late. Less than an hour later Cooper was up and struggling to breath, sleep and simply lay still. Laying in bed with us for a bit, struggling to breath and simply not feeling good while I worried all night long if my little man would quit breathing, allowed for very little sleep. It was an exhausting night!

The following morning he woke up in good spirits and within the hour quickly took a turn for the worse. From playing to laying on the floor writhing in pain and a fever that shook my spirits was very unnerving. His breathing progressively worsened allowing for four adults to become highly concerned. Early nap was definitely on the schedule while multiple phone calls to the advice nurse took place.

My mom and I escaped for a couple hours during nap to grab coffee and enjoy the shops in Long Beach. We had a good time and also grabbed some medical supplies for the little man; humidifier, probiotics and honey sticks to coat his throat. Upon our arrival back at the house, my son just woke up to be extremely labored in his breathing to the point it was beyond scary. His little body struggling with each breath wheezing and with no vocal cords at this point was so scary. He couldn’t talk at all!

Off to the ER. We quickly arrive and immediately were seen by a doctor. No cold symptoms still causing for confusion yet again. They decided to treat for Coup and quickly give a steroid shot as well as a ventilator full of medicine. Within minutes we noticed his little voice coming back to us in a very quiet, raspy sense, but it was better than nothing.

Three hours later they send us home with strict instructions to follow up with our pediatrician. Talk of further complications such as cystic fibrosis came up which of course plagued me with fear. On the other hand, finding something that could be causing this is more of a relief than simply no answers at all. All I want is to find a reason and start treating. Now of course, I really pray nothing is wrong with my son and that we can avoid further hospitalizations but that doesn’t seem like the easy answer we will receive.

Wednesday we followed up with our pediatrician with great success, I feel we finally are in forward motion in search for answers. We have an appointment set with a pulmonologist and will be treating Cooper for croup on a preventative level. Our doctors believes Cooper unfortunately will continue to get croup and has had it previously. We will be treating on a daily basis to lessen the severity of croup as we cannot actually prevent it at all. But the goal here, is to keep us from frequent hospitalizations and labored breathing.

This is only the beginning of the long road ahead, but in some weird way I feel confident and relieved that we are seeking this further and searching for answers. Hoping his little esophagus is our only issue will require us to continue battling croup until he’s roughly 5 years old. The good news in that this condition does not have long term effects. Praise Jesus!

We will wait, pray and be thankful that as of right now, what we know to be true is bearable! I will keep you all updated with how the appointment with the specialist goes.

Moment of Truth: Life was never promised to be easy, but God did promise He will never give us more than we can handle. At many times in my life, I have felt I was on the edge and God swept in and allowed a calm in my storm. Circumstances may not change, but our hearts do. I pray my heart grows tender and I continue to seek the Lord, rather than build resentment and allow fear to take over my life.

Man or Wo-Man

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 19 June, 2014 None comments

Ever question why your son enjoys your perfume or why he wants to wear your necklace? Or maybe your little girl wants to dig in dirt or play with tools like daddy. Is it really something to question or are your kids simply being a kid and exploring all life has to hold?

The other night Cooper decided it would be fun to wear my shoes around the house. My husband watched the final game of the series for basketball and Cooper tromped around beyond gracefully. I thought it was so funny to watch him focus and concentrate so hard to walk around with them on his little tootsies. My husband began to laugh pretty hard while Cooper tried to step on him with the shoes on getting frustrated that they kept falling off. But, on the other hand, he thought Cooper shouldn’t be wearing girl shoes. :) I explained that the concept to Cooper was simply succeeding at the task that laid ahead. Cooper has no idea girl vs boy other than his ungraceful beating of the hammer, throwing things and digging in dirt. A true boy at heart while on the contrary my little niece does not partake in the loud chaos of Coopers activities but sits quietly with her dolls and princess.

The process begins.

They kept falling off and we had to get re-situated.

Finally, walking like a champ.

Successful concentration.

“Don’t interrupt me mommy!”

“I did it, I walked the whole room without them slipping off. Success!”

Michael and I got a good laugh out of our son enjoying the concept of walking in overly large shoes.

My son loves playing in my makeup bag twisting the caps off one by one, wearing my necklace and spraying perfume. Does this make him less of a man, absolutely not. It is pretty simple actually. He is home with me all day long and sees the things I partake in and wants to dabble as well. He also mimics everything daddy does in the evenings; digging in dirt, playing with tools, messing with the lawn mower and simply getting dirty. This is part of learning as a child how to do things and wanting to be like mommy and daddy. There is no need to worry in their little adventures.

Moment of Truth: I truly believe it is innately ingrained in all of our children that a boy will be a boy and a girl will be a girl.

Little Man Workouts

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 15 June, 2014 None comments

Oh how my son never ceases to amaze me. His sweet little personality in every step throughout the day is a constant reminder of thankfulness.

I believe Cooper has officially put himself in charge of daddy’s workouts and I believe that Cooper would make the best trainer out there.

He decided he wanted to work out with daddy and do his ab workout. His tiny little body lay next to daddy while he copies everything daddy does from P90X ab ripper x.

“Look Daddy, I can do them too!”

“Get to work daddy” as Cooper has happily put himself in charge of daddy’s workouts and keeps him going. He continues to ask for “one more” every time Michael stops to take a break. “One more” pull-up, “one more” sit up. Keep going daddy, it’s fun to watch! :)

Sweet baby was so proud of himself. I can’t believe this little guy is going to be 2 next Saturday the 21st. :( It’s been really hard on me as I am so happy he’s growing and developing his cute little personality, but I am also so sad the baby stage is officially gone.

5 Minutes Inside a Mom’s Head…

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 13 June, 2014 None comments

What does five minutes inside a mom’s head really look like? I saw this article and laughed to myself while crying over the harsh reality that it is beyond true in every mom’s life.

The comforting thing is we all know what one another is going through while men sit on the sidelines contemplating the next win in basketball or whose going to get drafted to which team.

Some people may think 5 minutes is nothing but a long relaxed deep breath. These five minutes are anything and everything but a deep breath. More like gasping for air, panting as if you just ran a marathon or simply drowning and still making your mental checklist.

I saw this article and it was a must share. Any and all of you who have children will relate to this article while every man reading this may think we’ve lost our minds and have our “job” so easy. “Easy?” You want to talk about easy? My life is everything but easy. Yes I may stay home with the kids and not get up at 6 and get to work by 8, work all day to have an hour lunch to enjoy the sun, take a walk or even go out to eat with the dudes to only get home at 6 pm. Dinners made for you and your kids bathed and ready for bed. “Yes, I stay home with the kids, yes MY job is easy!”

Sometimes I want to yell this to every man out there who complains about there regimen of working to support the family. I 100% appreciate and support any man who is willing to care for their family so the wife can take the opportunity to hold the house together and raise the children with good morals and standards while keeping them in a family environment rather then childcare. I also appreciate the simple fact that my husband can earn triple if not quadruple the income I could earn in a given year. Yes, I support you and greatly appreciate you and all the hard work it takes in our society these days to have a one income family! Thank you!

On the other hand, learn to appreciate your wife. Appreciate your child learning manners, learning their alphabet, getting socialized on play dates, having educational toys and activities to participate in. Appreciate that your child and wife are probably happy when you reach home at the end of the day. Appreciate that you probably don’t partake in most the household chores, errands, grocery shopping, laundry and bills that’s been taken care of for you! Appreciate that when an outburst happens at home, your wife probably knows how to handle the situation and guide you through it!

This may make you laugh at the harsh reality of it, but lets be honest, a man wants respect and appreciation so badly. This is what makes a man a man. We all long for respect and appreciation as well. We may long to receive it in different ways than our spouse but oh how true it is to feel that respect for what you do on a daily basis. Both men and women need to bot give respect and receive respect. We work our jobs because that’s the job we’ve been given at that point in time and we need to be thankful and appreciative of one another. Households are no easy to run and we all know earning an income to support a family is a challenge in and of itself. No need to put one another down and compare our job tasks, simply appreciate them and love them for what they do!

For a little humor read this article: 5 Minutes inside a moms head

Thanks to: huffingtonpost.com

Moment of Truth: Multi-tasking is the essence of a mother’s life. Learning how to manage her family to get everyone where they need to be, projects done, bills paid and fresh clothes to wear is the essence of a mother who cares. All you mom’s out there, you do a great job even though it is often a thankless job! Keep it up!

Sometime I wonder…

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 10 June, 2014 None comments

Sometimes I wonder why I wake up in the morning and continue on the day of disastrous events. I end the day in a state of oblivion laughing at the messes that continue to come my way.

I find the only way to make it through crazy chaotic kid days, is to laugh at what takes place rather then get too uptight about it. Kids are kids and are innocent little people trying to make it through their own day in a big world being told “no” all the time.

I find it’s easier to laugh at the crazy responses rather then get upset as if they are an adult choosing to be ignorant. :)

My sweetie laying in the pile of clean clothes.

I wake up this morning to an early start with kids being here around 7:30.

Take Haylee to Preschool- out of gas and running late.

Leave gas station and ALL 16 oz of my coffee spill on the entire backseat floor.

Get to preschool in the nick of time.

Clean up coffee disaster

Spend time with a girlfriend while the boys play (relaxing)

Pick up kids- I have a tummy bug that persists all day long.

We have an accident in two of the kids pants while at the park.

Kids play in the sandbox and little Ian decides to chomp on seashells.

Kids leave for the day- make dinner and my husbands doesn’t eat due to not feeling good.

Husband came home with migrane

Cooper is crying, he wants his footie pajamas on and I put his foot-less pajamas on as it’s very hot in our house.

My husband and I cave in to our little son wanting footie pj’s and a muffin. We laugh to ourselves in utter oblivion of what this night consists of.

Nights not over– Cooper goes to bed late, I rush to the store for my prescription.

8:57- pharmacy closes at 9, I walk in the door with NO perscription.

8:58- Pharmacy calls, they found my prescription laying on the ground.

9 pm- try and dish up some granola for a snack, spill it everywhere. (Husband chuckles)

I begin to tell my husband this is how my ENTIRE day has gone while I accidentally puncture the container the granola is in, spilling the remainder amongst the rest.

Stare at the pile of clean clothes covering the floor while I wish my prescription was in hand, pj’s on, face washed and clothes were folded.

I refuse to fold the clothes tonight and will begin my day again tomorrow around 7.

Husband needs something printed and scanned. We both spend 30 minutes trying to figure out why the printer will not print the current document but prints 5 different items from three months ago.

Paper jam- try again.

Paper jam- finally we get duplicates of the item and we send it off.

10 pm- in bed

Moment of Truth: Some days you simply can’t wish them away and must laugh at the stupidity you discovered each hour. How are your days similar?

My Poor Baby!

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 6 June, 2014 None comments

My poor baby has been everything but healthy since he was born. He has continually been sick and I can’t seem to understand why. In and out of the Children’s hospital, doctors office and canceling many appointments to avoid the “hustle and bustle” of life to help get him back on track.

Here we are today and he has had a temperature ranging from 100.2-104 for the last four days. He starts off the day really cool and as the day progresses, he’s burning up. The next day, he starts off really hot and throughout the day it goes up and down but never away. The doctors office had me bring him in today to check him out. Two and half hours later, no cough, no cold, no ear infections, no nothing!!! How frustrating it is to sit there for 2 1/2 hours for what seems to be nothing except a high possibility of contracting some other sickness.

This time the trauma came from strapping a bag on his private parts to catch any output of urine. The little man hasn’t been drinking or eating so I have had to force fluids yet again. It took 2 hours for any output to come our way and finally my sweet baby was able to tell me when he did. I was so proud of him. We made a big deal about it as he was so scared about this foreign bag strapped to him; hoping this begins an exciting phase of potty training once he begins to feel better.

They tested his urine and all came back good. They have no area to pinpoint why he has such high fevers other than he simple is that child who gets sick all the time. My natural reaction as a mom is to assume something bigger is taking place that they haven’t yet caught. Two trips to the children’s hospital, many doctor visits and continual sicknesses make me a bit curious. They reassured me yet again today that it must be a viral infection. Hoping this is true but annoyed I keep visiting the doctors for no reason but to waste my sick child’s time.

The doctor did reassure me that at some point in a child’s life they will experience sickness on a very frequent basis, whether the first three years of their life or once they reach kindergarten. That comforted me slightly.

So….our fourth day of fevers is almost over. They advised me to push through tomorrow forcing fluids. If by Saturday or Sunday, the fever still persists than we must return for more testings. Praying for him to wake up with no fever and an appetite is all I can hope for right now. After no sleep last night and dealing with an unhappy child, I am ready for some good times to come!

Moment of Truth: The healthy times with your child often make you forget how blessed you are to truly have a healthy baby. Sickness and disease is running rampant throughout the world and the healthy little ones need to be embraced and we as parents need to be thankful. Our prayers need to go towards the sick babies and families that are suffering emotionally, physically, mentally and financially. Our family has only begun to taste what this really looks like and I pray we don’t continue down this road with frequent hospitalizations.

Zoo Bliss

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 5 June, 2014 None comments

We went to the zoo during Memorial weekend and had the best weather possible. Not too hot, not too cold and NOT too many people. It was fabulous. Although Cooper loved the large Seal, he was more interested in the construction taking place to enlarge the Elephants area. Our son loves tractors and trucks more than words can describe. He lights up like a Christmas tree and wont stop shouting “trac-or, truck” until you finally repeat him and acknowledge you see it as well!

In the midst of all the construction going on, he did enjoy betting the little pygmy goats.

Standing in the back of a Safari Truck…
Daddy and me time!

Cooper taking us on a wild safari ride.

Enjoying the large “fish” or seal.

“Trac-or, Trac-or” Loving the construction.

Who would have thought that in the midst of all the construction you would have a good time with your son? I didn’t think it would be that enjoyable as the tractors were everywhere but I quickly forgot how much Cooper is obsessed with tractors and could watch them all day if given the opportunity. We had a really good time, he enjoyed himself and hopefully one day my little man can sit in a tractor with his Papa.

The Deep Ocean Waters

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 21 May, 2014 None comments

We took a weekend and headed to the beach just the three of us for a GREAT change in scenery. We needed to escape as our house has never ending plumbing issues, I’m watching three kids, my husband works full time, his mother just passed and the “ebb-in-flow” of life seems to not flow so smoothly for the Cook’s.

It was supposed to rain all weekend as usual because we just came from a beautiful week of hot sun. My husband feels he’s doomed as every weekend brings on the rain while he can play but during the week it’s bright and sunny while he’s inside at his desk. Since this is pretty typical for our lives, we took the challenge head on and packed for rain and headed to the coast.

To our surprise, we had not only beautiful weather, but no wind either. It was incredible. Totally unexpected, unplanned and NO people. The usual crowded beach was every but that. We had the best time and surprisingly the water was not the typical freezing temperature as usual.

Cooper did not nap in the car on the way there which was our hope. This un-napped baby was beyond amazing! No fussing, no squirms, no attitude, no nothing. He was so happy he couldn’t even make it far before stopping to through the sand. He was in heaven. We took beach chairs and snacks and got some good sun.

He was so busy he did not have time to realize he was extremely tired. He had the time of his life. He loved the water and went up to his little waist multiple times. We had to drag him back to shore to get a break from the water. :)

I would take him out but he quickly got bored of it because I had pants on so we couldn’t go as far out as he would like. Luckily for me, daddy had to take him. His little brain was so fascinated and captured by the huge, deep waters. His little mind was going miles a minute. You could see him trying to process this vast ocean that was super fun to get wet in.

This was one giant bathtub for my little man.

You can see how deep they went as Cooper could not get enough of it.

Headed back to shore for some more digging!

Sweet little baby!

We ended the day at Mo’s, famous for clam chowder and sat outside soaking it up. Cooper had a blast and ate like a champ. This tired boy crashed within 5 minutes of leaving town. Sweet baby!!!

Timeliness

Posted by Delightfully Doable on 4 May, 2014 None comments

Timeliness is everywhere in life. We try and get to work on time, church, bible study, kids sporting activities, dinner dates, play dates, piano recitals, so on and so forth. Everything revolves around time. I’ve come to realize as I have just passed my second anniversary and am coming up on my sons 2nd birthday that life does not slow down. Do I want to be controlled by time or do I want to control the time I have?

How do we feel accomplished in our day? Do we lay our heads on our pillow at night feeling we didn’t quite get everything done that we had hoped or anticipated we would? What was on your list that you wish you could have accomplished? Was it worthwhile? Was it beneficial to your family and your soul, or was is an activity that we make important in our households that may not necessarily be that important?

These are questions that have filled my mind as of recent since the whirlwind began a month ago. The chaos of my day as of recent has been filled with three tiny souls longing to be loved and taught to love. The important things such as making my bed in the morning has taken a backseat. Washing every dish in the sink and vacuuming the floor has become less than an hourly or daily chore. My cleanliness obsession has begun to take a reality check as chasing three kids around doesn’t accomplish this task. Picking what really matters on a daily basis has become the new normal for me. Realizing it’s almost impossible to get anywhere early but roughly right on time or 5 minutes late; I’ve got this down to a science.

Realizing my life has taken a turn of utter chaos not all good and not all bad, has brought to my attention as I can’t believe this year has already brought us to the 5th month of 2014. I feel like we just got through the holidays and found out my mother-in-law was sick. Here we are in May and my son is almost 2 years old. Wondering where the time went and where it continues to still go baffles me beyond belief. The only thing I can stop and do is be thankful for the day I am in. This hasn’t been an easy concept for me, but the older I get, the longer I am married, and the older my son gets makes me realize time only goes faster, not slower. I want to relish in the day I am currently in and find the blessings in the tough days I wish I could sleep away.

As my son reaches his second birthday and we just passed our second anniversary I can humbly say, I’ve learned a lot in 2 full years. This is no understatement. Those of you who know me, know the struggles our family has faced and have been there to love and care for us through the process. Knowing God is doing a mighty work is extremely encouraging even when the hardship seems to cloud the work God is doing. I heard it once said, “It takes failure to bring success!” This caught my attention and made me realize we would never grow if we didn’t face hard circumstances in life forcing uncomfortability. As much as I want the extraordinary life, it also requires trials to bring perseverance which brings about a deeper relationship with Christ. We can’t get there without learning along the way.

My goal is to bring glory to God and be a blessing to my family. I want the world to know there is a happiness and peace that comes from trials knowing God is holding my hand along the way. The world would like to keep us blind to real happiness and often they succeed. It’s easy to get caught up in the mundane of life and allow petty things to dictate our accomplishments of the day. I know there are many times I lay my head to rest running down my mental checklist of what I got done and need to do the following day. These are not important tasks. After losing my mother-in-law, being reminded that all of her accomplishments in her career were nothing that lasted. They fall away but her soul remains. Nothing in her life that was career driven, self driven or for worldly pleasure went with her when she passed. The moment she took her last breath at 60 years old, none of that was important. Her soul, heart and mind is ALL that mattered.

Moment of Truth: What are you striving for in life? Is it worthwhile? Will it last for eternity or is it temporary? Strive to be more than this world has to offer.