10 Things I Want To Do This Summer.

Ok, I know I have slacked on the blog job lately and I'm working to fix that. For today though, I thought I'd do a quick post of the top 10 things I'm wanting to/looking forward to doing this summer:

1. Getting back in shape. It has been years since I was the weight that I would like to be at. This is the year I'm going to do it! I'm not pregnant anymore (hopefully it will stay that way for at least 2 1/2 years!) and I'm not working (at least not yet) so there is no excuse holding me back. I gotta take the plunge.

2. Taking Brooklyn to her 2 weeks of swim lessons. I'm so excited to get her into this! It's a "mom and tot" class and it's every day for 2 weeks and was only $29! Can't beat that!

3. Going to Destin, Florida with my parents at the end of the summer. Waylon and I haven't gone on a nice vacation since our honeymoon. We did get to go to Orlando when I was a cheer sponsor but we went with my school and it wasn't completely a vacation. This time, we're going with my parents and it will be a true vacation with nothing else to do other than go to the beach everyday! SO looking forward to it!

4. Getting into a routine here around the house. It's been hard getting into a routine because at first there are so many doctor's appointments and other things going on right after you have a baby. I'm hoping things will calm down this summer and we can get into a regular-ish routine that is semi-predictable.

5. Getting the house de-cluttered. I'm slowly but surely getting rid of "stuff" that is filling up our house. I'd like to get a bunch more out before the winter. This one will extend into the fall most likely since I probably won't work in the garage much during the summer. It's way too hot for that around here!

6. Catching up on my Bible reading. I'm embarrassed to say that I'm almost 2 months behind on my reading plan of reading through the New Testament in a year. It's embarrassing because it's only one chapter a day with two days off in the week. Who can't do that?!?! I've been trying to read 2-4 chapters a day depending on how calm my mornings are. I read my chapters along with a new devotional book I bought for myself called "Finding Peace: 100 Devotionals for Women". It's been a wonderful little devotional!

7. Replace most of my beverage intake to water. I know that one of the biggest contributors to my weight issues is the fact that I LOVE me some Coke and iced coffees. Both have tons of sugar and calories. I need to get back into drinking water. When I'm pregnant it seems so much easier to drink all that water but when I'm not, I lose all desire for it. I noticed that if I keep bottled water in the fridge, I'm more likely to drink it so I'm keeping bottled water on hand and I have been drinking more.

8. Paint my bathroom! This has been a project that has been hanging over my head for a very long time. We have hideous wall paper that is partially ripped off. The bathroom could use a major overhaul but the paint job is by far the top thing on my list to do in there.

9. Read more. I was very excited to get my Kindle but ever since having Layla, it's been a challenge to get any "fun" reading done. I'm bound and determined to do this more but it's going to require less TV and internet time, which requires better time management. What a challenge!

10. Pay our car off. We owe less than $3000 on Waylon's car and I really want to pay that off in the next month or two. With Waylon's income increasing when he moves into his new position as owner, this shouldn't be a problem. Once that's out of the way, my student loans will be the next thing to get paid off. Then my credit cards and then Waylon's student loans. That's the order it goes in from our smallest amounts to our largest amounts of debt. It will feel so good to be debt free and be able to start saving for our first house! We do have an emergency fund in place as Dave Ramsey recommends but we don't save any more than that right now as we work on getting out of debt.

I should probably write a post all about our experience going through the Financial Peace University class and how we have succeeded in some areas and failed in others. Nothing like a little bit of honesty!

Today we get to go see my cousin and her two boys at my grandparent's house. She's coming in to visit us and we are looking forward to getting the kids together to play. Her second son is about 3 weeks older than Brooklyn and her oldest son is 5. They have a lot of fun together. We're taking them to eat at McDonald's so they can play in the play area. Brooklyn loves it!

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day! I will post some pictures of how we spent part of ours very soon!

Justin Bieber eat your heart out!

I was looking through some older pictures from when Brooklyn was newborn.

I realized that I am probably the one who inspired Justin Bieber's hair style.

What do you think???

               

So, who's hair did you inspire?

Dating for mommies: dating without your husbands.

Last week I went on a date and it wasn't with my husband. I should also add that I did not cheat on him either. Who did I go on a date with, you might ask? Well, this person is tall, blonde and super cool. She (yes, SHE) likes to read and has a great sense of humor and is quite attractive too! (snicker) That person was...wait for it...ME! Don't worry, I'm not going to be like the girl in a movie on saw on Lifetime that decided she was going to marry herself. That's just a bit CA-RAZY!

By the way, we have all been on those dates with our husbands where we didn't really do anything but discuss the kids...right? I found this little comic strip to be quite entertaining for those of us who have been through this...

But back to the point...I've decided that I'm going to make a habit of going on a date with myself once a month (or as close to that as possible). You may think I'm crazy or you may think I'm a genius! (or you may think "I've been doing this a long time! What took you so long to figure this out?!")

For my first date with me, I took myself out to a movie I had been wanting to see that I knew Waylon would not enjoy (or even be willing to go see at all). I went and saw "Something Borrowed". I had read the book and really liked it and really wanted to see the movie. I was not disappointed with how the movie followed the book. It fit how I imagined everything while reading the book perfectly! I also love me some Jim Halpert on "The Office" so I was excited to see John Krasinski in the movie. He plays the part of Ethan really well. I also like the rest of the cast, Ginnifer Goodwin and Kate Hudson. I had never seen the actor who played Dex before but I liked him too! He was perfect for the part. If you have never read the book and are thinking about seeing the movie, I would say wait till you've read the book and then go see the movie. The book is wonderful and I think the movie works better if you've read the book and have a little more insight into the characters which the movie doesn't have as much time to delve into.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed, and did not feel a bit awkward about, being by myself in the movie theater. I also liked not having to worry about whether the other person was enjoying the movie or not. It was great to be able to go on my own schedule and not plan around anyone else (other than my parents who watched the girls for me). There is something freeing about being able to do that occasionally and I, for one, plan on doing it a lot more!

I probably won't go see a movie on every date. I might go get coffee and read a book or take myself to a park and make a picnic. It might even involve a day at a spa or a massage. Anything that is relaxing and enjoyable and gets me out of the house for a couple of hours for some "me time". But movies will be a big part of it because I do not have a husband who is willing to go see girly movies with me. So I either have to wait till I have a friend who is able to go with me (scheduling conflicts are what keep this from happening the most) or go by myself.

So that's the scoop on my most recent date. I should mention that you don't have to be married to take yourself on a date. You can do it regardless of marital status. It's a great thing to do for yourself! I just know that as married women, and possibly with kids, like myself, it's very rare that we get to do something simply because WE want to do it. It always revolves around what the kids want to do or what your husband wants to do. We need to be able to get out and do something that's just what WE are wanting to do and no one else. I also think that for this to work best and for you to feel like you got the most "me time" out of it, that it should be done alone, without girlfriends or sisters or moms coming along. That's not to say they aren't fun or anything, it's just that it is very liberating knowing that you don't have to wonder if the other person is enjoying themselves. You don't have to have conversations and can focus on thinking and relaxing and just enjoying your alone time. Of course, you can feel free to bring a friend if that's what you want! There's really no wrong way to do it...unless you bring your husband and kids along, which would defeat the whole purpose!

I'm looking forward to my next date with myself. I'm quite enjoyable to be around and I make great company and conversation. But hey, that's just ME talking and I'm a little biased probably.

Have you ever gone to a movie alone for a movie only you wanted to see? Do you ever take yourself out just for some time alone to relax? What are some things you have done or would like to do alone on a date with yourself? Please share! I need ideas to plan ahead!

**One little disclaimer here: while I might occasionally post about and recommend a book or movie to you, my readers, I do realize that you might not like or agree with some of the recommendations I make. I would never recommend a book or movie that was distasteful or vulgar but I do realize that there are different levels of what is acceptable to read about and watch for different Christians. This book/movie does have language and moral issues that some of my readers may find offensive. I hope you do not think that I condone using foul language or the lifestyles that the characters in the story live. It is rated PG-13 so it does have some sexual content. You can research it more before going to watch it if you are hesitant about the contents of it.**

A month of days in the life of Layla Paige Perryman

For 30 days...

I have held you in my arms.



















We have had the blessing of watching you grow and develop.

You have made us smile, laugh and make silly baby talk to you.

You have brought so much joy to our hearts and so many others.

I can't believe it's already been 30 days after what felt like a long 9 months of counting down until the day of your arrival.

But here you are.

You are precious and loved my little Layla.

You are wanted and cared for.

We couldn't have asked for a cuter, sweeter, snugglier, beautiful, little girl.

You are staying awake for longer periods of time and looking us in the eye as if you know that it makes our day.

You are eating like a little piggy, taking at least 4 ounces every 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

You are now weighing over 10 pounds and growing out of your newborn clothes and diapers very quickly.




You love your pacifier and sleep great in your swaddle blanket as soon as you get past the initial frustration of not being able to move your arms about freely.

                                                   

  

    

You are one gassy little girl and have lots of dirty diapers.

You are loved by your big sister, Brooklyn. She loves to hold you and always tries to sneak into our room to touch you when you are asleep in your crib. She also loves trying to put your pacifier in your mouth.

I've typed all these words to get to a much more straight forward point: We love you with all our hearts Layla Paige and we are so blessed to have you and thankful that God gave you to us. He decided somehow that we were worthy enough to be parents to you and Brooklyn and we are ever amazed by this.

We look forward to getting to watch you flourish and grow into a Godly young lady and dazzle the world with your beauty and charm that you are bound to have.

With all our love,
Mommy, daddy and big sister Brooklyn

Becoming and early bird: struggles from a night owl.

I'm not a morning person. Anyone in my life who knows me well knows this. I'm a night owl in the worst way. If I go to bed before midnight I feel like I'm missing out on something. Don't ask me why because I'm not quite sure what I think I'm missing at that time of the night.

When morning rolls around, I want nothing more than to bury myself deeper into my pillow and cover my head with my blanket and ignore the light coming through my windows. It's a hard knock life I tell ya.
Lately, however, I'm learning how important it is to start my day right by starting my morning right. If I have a late start in the morning, the rest of my day seems to be pretty unproductive and lazy. If I get up and get going at a decent hour (read 7 am), I am in a more productive mindset and those days seem to be very productive.

So I find myself in quite a battle of wills here. I want so badly to be a morning person. I want to be abel to set my alarm and pop out of bed the first time it goes off. I want to get up early and work out, shower and read my Bible all before the kids get up. I want to be über productive and cheery in the mornings. But none of this comes naturally for me. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Now that I'm staying home, it's much harder to get myself up and at em' each morning because there is no specific place I have to be (unless it's doctor appointment days).

I think the only way I'm going to be able to achieve this goal will be by the power of God and His ability to perform miracles. It's imperative that I learn to make my mornings productive and be a better steward of this time God is giving me at home with my children. I also believe that God calls all mothers and wives to make the house a home. To make it a safe haven for the family. To make it peaceful and cheerful and a place the family looks forward to being in. This will not be possible if I wake up late everyday and the house is in constant disarray and messy. A messy, dirty house causes stress and is not a haven of peace and cheerfulness in any way, shape or form. I don't believe that this means we are expected to keep a perfect house. That's not possible when you have little kids. I do believe we are to do our best with what we are given and make our house as homy as possible though.

I've been reading a book called "Uniquely Woman" by Kay Arthur and it addresses the issue of making your house a home. It's been a wonderful book so far and I'm looking forward to reading more. She writes about things like "living on purpose" and other things that we forget to do when we're down in the trenches of motherhood and housewife-hood each day. It's hard to see beyond that at times, so we need someone to remind us that this is a calling from the Lord. We are making a difference with every mess we clean up, every dirty diaper we change, each bag of trash we take out to the curb, each peanut butter and jelly sandwich we make, every tear we wipe from our toddler's cheek, every bottle we make, and every crayon/marker scribbling we clean up from our couches and TVs (this specifically happened to me this week!).

I've now been inspired to make each morning count. To get up and read my Bible first thing. To make my coffee and drink it from my new coffee mug that my church gave all the mother's for Mother's Day (mine has the word Hope on it and a verse that speaks of hope). To spend one on one time with each of my daughters, even when there are other things that are piling up for me to do. To make my husband a cup of coffee and greet him with a cheerful smile, love in my eyes and a kiss before he heads out for a long day of hard work. To enjoy the beautiful days the Lord gives us. To appreciate the simple, small house we are blessed to live in.

Will every morning go as planned? No, surely not. Will I always make it up at the right time? Most definitely not! Will I have a good disposition each time I hear that alarm go off, signaling the beginning of my day? Preposterous! Will it make a difference and get easier the more I do it? I believe so.

I'm going to take it one day at a time and one goal at a time. Right now I want to focus on starting my day with my coffee and Bible reading time. That relaxes me right away and puts my mind in the right place. I'm way behind on my yearly Bible reading plan (I'm going through the New Testament in a year) so I have been reading extra each day to catch up. I'm hoping by the end of this month I'll be completely on track again! (Yes, I'm that far behind!)

So, maybe you can join me on my new quest to become a morning person, or at least live like I'm a morning person. Are you a morning person? Do you have a morning routine? What helped you to get into this habit? What do you still struggle with? Take a minute and share your story with me. I could really use some encouragement and accountability!

Why you might have been unfriended on Facebook

This post really doesn't have anything to do with anything domestic. And that's OK. While my main purpose with this blog is to write about my domestic failures and successes, I do want to occasionally post things that are meant to just be purely fun and frivolous! This is one of them, and I think it's one we can all relate to (well, as long as you have a Facebook account, that is!).

There are several reasons someone might unfriend you on Facebook. I'll admit that I have done this myself, although not very much. I'm a "hider" by nature. Instead of unfriending someone, I just "hide" them so they don't show up in my feed anymore. This is easier than unfriending someone because it can be done right there from your news feed page instead of going to your friend list, finding the person and unfriending them. And yet, I have found reason enough to go through the extra steps to unfriend a few people, even though doing so makes me feel a slight twinge of guilt and fear that they will know it was me who unfriended them. * queue a big, loud, fearful "GULP" here*



Regardless of my slight discomfort in unfriending people, here are the main reasons (I can remember at least) why I unfriended people in the past:

• I realized I didn't know the person. They must have friended me through the "someone you may know" process, thinking they knew me, but really didn't. I'm not looking for high numbers of friends or anything so I have no desire to keep people on my friend list that I don't know. You just never can be too careful.
• He/she was a person I barely knew for a short period of time and no longer see and probably never will see again. 
• He/she posts inappropriate things on a regular basis that I find offensive and no longer want to read about. I will almost always unfriend for this reason instead of just "hide" simply because I don't want to be subject to or connected to offensive things online that could disparage my character and who is offensive to me on a daily basis.

Those are all the reasons I have actually unfriended people for and it's really been a miniscule amount of people that I have done this with. For the most part, I like to utilize the "hide" feature on FB, again, for the convenience more than anything.

Here are some other reasons people might unfriend you:

• They don't like you. (Yikes! Harsh, but sometimes true!)
• They think you're boring. (Another painful one!)
• You post too much junk on their wall (like games and other useless apps).
• You and said person had a "real-life" falling out and they no longer want your friendship to be "FB official".
• You've broken up with this person and are no longer "significant others" and it's too hard to be "just friends" on FB.
• Your relationship with the person is such that they don't want you knowing what they are doing. This is probably more typical in the teen/adult setting, more than amongst other adults, although I'm sure it still happens. On a side note here, my children will not have the option to have any online social media accounts without being friends with me - if I have an account on that particular platform - and giving me all their login information so that I can go in and see all their activity.
• Instead of finding you boring, they find you to be an idiot and are tired of the dumb stuff you post.
• You post too many pictures of yourself that you took of yourself, making the weird crooked smile/kiss face. (In my younger, single years, I'll admit that I had some of these and they are still probably posted on FB. You just have to look far enough back in my photo albums. *bows head in shame...*)
• You post too much political stuff, or have posted something political that offended that person. (I've been unfriended because of this one and I don't consider myself a political person. Ooops!)
• You post too many pictures of your kids. (Come on! Who doesn't like to see 200 pictures a day of my newborn baby??!)
• You simply post too many statuses in a day, therefore jamming up that person's news feed so they don't see anyone else's statuses. (I've been accused of being the person who posted the most statuses of anyone they knew on FB. I developed a complex and now keep a mental count of how many statuses I've posted each day...adjusting to staying home has created some new bad habits apparently!)
• They are now in a relationship and are no longer comfortable being friends with someone of the opposite sex. (I actually read a blog post about this.)
• They have decided they only want to use Facebook to connect with family and very close friends and you do not fit into either of those categories.
• You're not cool enough to be their friend anymore. (Ever find yourself wondering if "so-and-so" would accept a friend request from you? I have, and it kept me from requesting to be their friend because I was afraid of rejection and figured that they had probably seen me on someone else's profile and would have asked to be my friend if they really wanted to.)
• You were only friends on FB because you worked together and now you don't work together anymore and they don't have to pretend to care about you.

I'm sure I could drum up some more reasons but I'd like to hear some from you too. What are some reasons YOU have unfriended people on Facebook (if any) and what are some reasons you could think of to cause someone to do so? Are you more of a friend "hider" like myself? Or do you have no qualms about unfriending someone? If you're in a serious relationship or married recently, do you feel the need to unfriend exes or others members of the opposite sex? Do you expect this from your significant other?

I would like to end this post by saying, this is meant to be funny and light-hearted and not aimed at any one person I am friends with on Facebook. If you fall under the category of any of my reasons listed, please know that I most likely was not thinking about you, it just came to me. I also used a lot of things that directly apply to me (like posting a gazillion pictures of my kids, posting tons of updates throughout the day, and not being cool enough). I don't want any of my friends to read this and think I was making fun of them or trying to send out a message to them! Just read and have a good laugh and don't unfriend me...pretty please with cherries on top??

My current "fails" as a SAHM

When I became a SAHM, I determined to be the most organized and "with it" SAHM anyone had ever seen. Afterall, I have always been very good at whatever job I had and quickly learned the ropes and got it down to a science. Why would this be any different?? Pshh...I couldn't have been more delusional if I had tried! This business of being a SAHM is WAY more challenging and difficult than any other job I have ever had! (And I've had some pretty high-stress jobs!)

I traded in white boards, chalkboards and grading papers for cleaning, cooking and caring for my kids on Friday, March 11th. That's been just over two months. At the beginning I spent hours reading home management blogs, couponing blogs and any other blogs and websites that helped SAHMs be better at managing the house. I enrolled in e-mealz for my meal planning and cooking, I got a coupon binder set up and started clipping coupons, and I even created my own home management binder. It was so stressful! I was 9 months pregnant, trying to become the perfect SAHM over night while also caring for my toddler! I only lasted one week with cooking. I realized after standing in the kitchen for over an hour cooking a "simple" meal, that it simply was not doable right now for me to try to cook everyday. I was constantly interrupted by Brooklyn, my back was killing me and by the time it was ready, I was too tired to eat! I just laid down and dozed for 2 hours on the couch while Brooklyn sat next to me and watched TV. By the time Waylon got home that evening, the food was cold and the meal wasn't something he ended up liking a whole lot either. I was really frustrated with the whole thing!

So I scratched that idea. We either ate out from then on or I fixed meals that were frozen and only needed to be heated up in the microwave or baked in the oven. And that's how we continue to do things now that baby Layla has arrived. I'm aiming for eating home more than out and it's working. I'm still saving money by not eating out each meal even if it isn't as much as I would if I was cooking everything from scratch. I don't know that cooking from scratch will ever be "my thing". We like the PF Chang's frozen stir fry meals and they are so easy! I also like the family sized lasagnas from Stouffer's. I also have a variety of "snack" type foods that can be a meal in a pinch like taquitos and corn dogs for the days I want something that only takes 30 seconds in the microwave.

I've also cut way back on the couponing thing for now. It takes a lot of time and organization. It also seems to require that I buy a lot of stuff we don't actually eat. I do want to get back to using the coupons but I won't be keeping every coupon I find. I will look for ones for things we already eat or use and keep those. The rest, I'll donate to our library's coupon box. I simply don't have the time for long grocery shopping trips that involve buying lots of stuff I wouldn't normally eat.

I was also gung-ho about getting on a daily routine. I had a daily routine typed out of things I wanted to make sure to get done each day and in what order I wanted them done. It was fairly easy doing that for the first 2 days and then it all fell apart.

First of all, it's been hard for me to figure out what our new "normal" is going to be. Between several doctor's appointments, long-awaited errands, visits from friends and family and random other things going on (that are out of the norm), I have yet to go through a week where there wasn't something that threw me off a bit. I know that's part of life and I need to learn to adjust to that because it will continue to happen, but it would be nice to have some weeks without interruptions so I can figure things out around here. Is that too much for a girl to ask?!

Ahem...(lest anyone get offended or think we aren't appreciative!) Don't get me wring, we love the visits from friends and family. Those are welcome interruptions to our normal and, possibly, something that would be nice to have as part of our "normal". I would love to have regularly scheduled play dates for Brooklyn and Layla (and myself!). So please don't take the mentioning of visits in that last paragraph discourage any of you from coming to see us or inviting us to come see you! We enjoy those interruptions very much!

Last, but not least, let us not forget the house cleaning part of my life now. THAT has been a huge challenge! I've had to really train myself to put things away as soon as I'm done with them and clean up messes as soon as they are made in the kitchen. Otherwise, things pile up very quickly. It doesn't help that no one else in my house will do that (well, Waylon does occasionally) so I'm cleaning up after 3 other people who make messes and leave them. I'm trying to teach Brooklyn the "clean up" song but she isn't taking to it very well but I'm not giving up on that any time soon.

I'll leave on a positive note as far as the house cleaning goes. I've been successful in keeping up with two areas over the past couple of weeks: laundry and dishes. Those are two things that I HAVE to keep up with or we turn into nudists eating with our hands! It feels good to have two things I've managed to maintain a handle on and I hope to add others to that list soon!

Now you know my motherhood failures, what are yours? What are you not good at in house keeping? What is something you ARE good at keeping up with?

Blogger problems

Something happened with Blogger yesterday and today where they were "down" for quite some time. Because of whatever the problem was, my "Thankful Thursday" post was removed but should be back up soon. I also noticed that my comments to my first post "The Beginning of Something Deliriously Beautiful" were deleted. I don't know if those will show back up or not but I apologize for it if they end up being gone for good. I'm very frustrated with Blogger at the moment for this happening so soon after I started my new blog. Hope all is back to normal and all my comments and posts are restored! I do have another post to put up today but it will have to be later in the day as my time for my blog was this morning while the system was down. Now that I'm working on other things (my garage!), it will be a while before I have time to sit down and post what I was going to today. Hope you're all having a wonderful Friday!

Thankful Thursdays

I think I'm going to start a new habit on this blog of hosting a "Thankful Thursday" post. I intentionally did not search the web to see if any other blogger already does this because I want it to be my own idea! So, if you know of another blogger who already hosts a "Thankful Thursday", or, if YOU are a blogger who already hosts a "Thankful Thursday", please know that I'm not copying you. I really did just think it up myself. I promise. You can let me know, though, if you do already host one and if you want me to change this and I will throw a little fit and then comply do so without making a stink!

So here we go, my "Thankful Thursday" list:

I'm thankful for...

• my beautiful daughters
• not being pregnant anymore
• ice vanilla coffees from McDonald's
• the still, quiet moments during nap time
• my new digital camera that takes awesome pictures
• a rainy day when I didn't feel like watering the lawn 
• the many books on being organized and how to be a good SAHM - for which I need a lot of help with!
• my iMac and Macbook 
• my Airwalk flip flops from Payless
• Layla's adorable head of soft, silky hair

Some weeks I may do a theme for a "Thankful Thursday" post but today, being the first one and all, I'm going with more heart-felt things. These are the things that my heart is the most thankful for at this exact moment. 

What about you? What's your "Thankful Thursday" list? (It doesn't have to be 10 things like mine, it can be one, five or thirteen!)

As a follow-up post, I will be writing about my love/hate relationship with Thank You notes. I know it may seem contradictory to this post, but I promise I will present some good points and hopefully not offend anyone in the process. Easier said than done, I'm sure.

The beginning of something deliriously beautiful.

Hello and welcome to my little corner of the internet! I'm Stephanie and I've started a new blog. I felt it was time to move on from my first blog "Perryman Ponderings". We had a good run together but change is in the air for us so I took the plunge and changed my blog as well.

You may wonder why I changed blogs and didn't just re-vamp the other one. Well, I'm not quite sure why I didn't go that route other than the fact that I wanted to move away from a blog with my last name and that fact that it didn't really convey what my blog was to be about. I believe my new name does.

I'm switching gears in life from working mom to stay at home mom and this is all very new to me. That's the "Domestic" part of the blog. The "Delirium" comes in to represent the fact that, well, raising two kids under the age of two and attempting to keep the house clean and functioning can put a person into somewhat of a delirious state of mind. Can I get an amen?

I've officially been staying home since March 12th. My last day of work as a teacher was Friday, March 11th. I decided to take a month off work before having my second daughter, scheduled to arrive by c-section on April 21st, but, who made her appearance on April 20th due to me having early signs of labor the night before my pre-op appointment (but this is a post for another time). My first few weeks home with my 21 month old daughter weren't the best. I was miserable from pregnancy and wanted nothing more than to lay back with my feet up and rest. My daughter had other plans for me. She kept me on my toes those 5 weeks leading up to her sister's birth. She's a little firecracker, that's for sure.

Here's a picture of our family with the new addition:

During those last few weeks of pregnancy, I found myself getting more frustrated than usual that I was unable to get stuff done here at home. Physically, I couldn't do more than fold half a load of laundry before getting short-winded and needing to lie down and rest. It was really pathetic. I also was unable to do much with Brooklyn, so now she's a TV junkie - namely, Nick Jr. - wanting to watch "Dado" (Dora) and "Duppies" (Bubble Guppies) all day. I don't know what I'm going to do to fix this problem, but it needs to be stopped. I don't know how many more days I can take hearing the theme songs to both of these shows, over and over again to the point where I find myself singing them in the car or while I do other things around the house. It's appalling.

Now that I'm home with Brooklyn and her adorable little sister Layla, I find that I still am unable to get much done. This time it's not from being physically debilitated by pregnancy. Instead, I am physically debilitated by a newborn that needs to eat every 3 hours and then be held for about an hour after each feeding to help her pass all her gas, OR, my toddler who is finding more and more things to get into that she shouldn't. I feel like I spend all day telling her "no" or to "stop that" or "leave the baby alone!" It's quite overwhelming at times.

No matter how overwhelming things seem here at home, I have an anchor in my Savior who has blessed me with this amazing opportunity to raise my kids and be a homemaker (and hopefully not a home-breaker!). It is very challenging for someone like me who has worked for the past 13 years in jobs that had guidelines and rules and a set way of doing things. Unfortunately, there's no manual or standard operating procedures for how to run a home and raise your kids! The Bible gives us general guidelines about love and discipline but how we run our day-to-day lives in our home looks very different for each of us. I'm trying to learn what our "normal" will look like. I hope to find it and not just live in a constant state of chaos and confusion.

I'm daily being challenged with things I can be better at in the area of motherhood and wife-hood (is that even a word?) and homemaker-hood (I'm just rolling with it here...). I've read so many blogs on homemaking and child-rearing that my brain is now mush from overload of information. I decided I need to stop reading and just start doing and learning. God will help me along the way and I need to put my faith in him. He gave me a wonderful mate that is very understanding and encouraging. He doesn't put me down when things don't work out the way I planned or when I cook something that doesn't come out very good, or when the house isn't in tip-top shape when he comes home from a very long day at work. I am very blessed with such a caring and loving husband!

So onward I go, learning, growing, experiencing, mothering, wifing and homemaking. I hope you enjoy reading what I have to share and at least get an occasional laugh out of my daily, blunderous life.

P.S. If you used to follow my Perryman Ponderings blog, please make sure to add Domestic Delirium to the list of blogs you follow. I don't want to leave anyone behind!

P.P.S Please leave me some feedback on what you think of my new layout. I will eventually get a custom blog design made but right now I went with a simple one to get started. What do you think of my new blog name? What about my writing? I'm looking for ways to improve the content and look of my blog. I will accept any creative criticism without getting offended, I promise!