So many times in life, I find that it is the little things that bring joy. It is the little things that mean the most.
But sometimes, sometimes there are BIG things that really mean a lot too.
We've had a lot of big things lately.
This is the HUGEST of the HUGE. This big hunk of a man has been steadily doing school AND work AND family since we got married SEVEN YEARS ago! There were times (many, many times) when this accomplishment seemed too far away to ever be reality. There were times we wondered if it was worth it. There were times of despair and times of frustration.
Still, he persisted.
And he DID IT!
My baby left infancy behind and joined the ranks of toddlers world-wide. He's pretty much the cutest walking-male on the planet. Except for maybe his father. (This is in no way a mere opinion based on motherly bias and is a real fact).
She has had only a handful of accidents, including nighttime. Whatta-bing, whatta-bang!
I remember back when I was trudging through the Potty Training Trenches with Ammely, a friend from church told me that her unpopular, but seemingly effective, secret to potty training her own children has been to wait until they turn three. I was intrigued. Surely enough, about the time Ammely turned three she just "got it" all of a sudden. And months of agony came to an end.
So with Lynnden, I just waited.
And it worked.
She was READY and it has been PAINLESS.
*cue the rejoicing choirs*
On June 30th, Ammely and I got up early (I slept through several alarms and we nearly didn't make it in time), got a blessing from her Daddy, and headed into the children's hospital.
She was very cheery all morning and made the nurses laugh and smile.
Her turn came and she skipped down the hall with her nurses to the Operating Room.
About an hour later, the doctor came and told me that everything went 100% perfect.
Another 20 to 30 minutes later, the nurses came to take me to Ammely.
She was not happy.
Her poor eyes were miserable. They described it as a constant feeling of having sand in your eyes. She desperately wanted to just open her eyes and see normally and comfortably. But when she would open her eyes, it would hurt. She would cry and scream and beg for help. Her tears were bloody. She was mad at me for letting them do that to her. She was mad at the nurses for not making it better. She was mad at the doctors for hurting her. It was one of the most pitiful scenes I've seen.
After much frustration that nobody was relieving her pain, she finally asked me if we could pray to Heavenly Father to make her all better.
So Ammely, the nurse and I bowed our heads and said a prayer right there in the recovery room
And she finally fell back asleep.
She continued in her misery for just a couple of days but things constantly improved.
We have been very happy with the results and so far it looks like this one surgery may have done the trick.
Words can't describe the gratitude in my overflowing heart for the many loved ones who stopped and gave heartfelt prayers on her behalf.
And for the heavens for hearing and answering our prayers.
There just aren't words to tell you how this hits my heart. My firstborn has gone off into the world and I just wasn't ready. I miss her. I do.
Still, I'm just SO excited for her! I crazy love school. Seriously. My heart skips a beat when school supplies come out for sale each year. This quote from You've Got Mail comes straight from my heart.
And she has been loving school. And I love that she loves it. She has a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Newton, at a wonderful school, Eduprize. I will be a bit heartbroken when we have to switch to a new school (a good likelihood next year).
Her first day was a smooth success. You can hear all about it straight from her:
But sometimes, sometimes there are BIG things that really mean a lot too.
We've had a lot of big things lately.
Ammon Completed his Bachelor's Degree!
This is the HUGEST of the HUGE. This big hunk of a man has been steadily doing school AND work AND family since we got married SEVEN YEARS ago! There were times (many, many times) when this accomplishment seemed too far away to ever be reality. There were times we wondered if it was worth it. There were times of despair and times of frustration.
Still, he persisted.
And he DID IT!
Ammon Alan Baysinger
Bachelor of Science in Horticulture
College of Agricultural Sciences
Oregon State University
One of these days, we're going to celebrate. As it is right now, this GIANT accomplishment has been sort of swept under the rug as Ammon is in the heat of working on other big accomplishments (optometry school applications, pre-reqs, and the Optometry Admissions Test {OAT} have been our life as of late).
For now, you should know that he worked his tail off to make this happen. And my heart fills to bursting when I consider how proud I am of him. He deserves every congratulatory wish you throw his way.
Brelynn Started a Hobby-Business!
I love a good book. Always have. I expect I always will. I've especially loved sharing great books with my little ones. You may remember that getting my baby a library card was one of the first things on my list when I first had Ammely. Truly, there is no joy like snuggling down and discovering new worlds and new information together in a book.
So after falling in love with the books at Usborne Books & More, I decided I wanted them ALL.
I also wanted EVERYBODY to know about them - because Usborne just does books better. They really do. They're crazy high-quality and are the books my kids pull off the shelves every day. Seriously. Every. Single. Day. **mom win!**
Selling books has turned out to be nothing like I expected. I didn't expect it to be so fulfilling to my soul to have something that was "mine" and something that was "adult" and something that made some money. I didn't expect to make new friends. I didn't expect to get SO MANY books for such GREAT deals. I also didn't expect such small parties to be such big work. I didn't expect the time it really takes to maintain an online presence and excellent customer follow-up. It's been a large learning curve. I LOVE this company. I LOVE the books. I LOVE the people. I DON'T love the time it has taken and so I've taken a bit of a break to help my family with all of this other BIG stuff. However, I hope to climb back into the Usborne world soon and this time do it with greater balance.
So after falling in love with the books at Usborne Books & More, I decided I wanted them ALL.
I also wanted EVERYBODY to know about them - because Usborne just does books better. They really do. They're crazy high-quality and are the books my kids pull off the shelves every day. Seriously. Every. Single. Day. **mom win!**
Selling books has turned out to be nothing like I expected. I didn't expect it to be so fulfilling to my soul to have something that was "mine" and something that was "adult" and something that made some money. I didn't expect to make new friends. I didn't expect to get SO MANY books for such GREAT deals. I also didn't expect such small parties to be such big work. I didn't expect the time it really takes to maintain an online presence and excellent customer follow-up. It's been a large learning curve. I LOVE this company. I LOVE the books. I LOVE the people. I DON'T love the time it has taken and so I've taken a bit of a break to help my family with all of this other BIG stuff. However, I hope to climb back into the Usborne world soon and this time do it with greater balance.
Clark is Walking!
My baby left infancy behind and joined the ranks of toddlers world-wide. He's pretty much the cutest walking-male on the planet. Except for maybe his father. (This is in no way a mere opinion based on motherly bias and is a real fact).
Lynnden is Potty-Trained!
I anticipated the nightmare. But this girl has been a DREAM.She has had only a handful of accidents, including nighttime. Whatta-bing, whatta-bang!
 |
| Gotta love all that underwear enthusiasm! Hahaha. P.S. Note the Usborne books - I'm tellin' ya! My kids love these books! |
I remember back when I was trudging through the Potty Training Trenches with Ammely, a friend from church told me that her unpopular, but seemingly effective, secret to potty training her own children has been to wait until they turn three. I was intrigued. Surely enough, about the time Ammely turned three she just "got it" all of a sudden. And months of agony came to an end.
So with Lynnden, I just waited.
And it worked.
She was READY and it has been PAINLESS.
*cue the rejoicing choirs*
Ammely had Eye Surgery!
About the time Ammely turned 18 months old, we began to notice that her left eye turned inwards. From that time, it has been years of glasses prescriptions and eye-patching in an effort to correct the turn and strengthen her eye fully. It became clear that she would need surgery to fully fix the turn and help her brain and eyes start to work together properly.On June 30th, Ammely and I got up early (I slept through several alarms and we nearly didn't make it in time), got a blessing from her Daddy, and headed into the children's hospital.
She was very cheery all morning and made the nurses laugh and smile.
Her turn came and she skipped down the hall with her nurses to the Operating Room.
About an hour later, the doctor came and told me that everything went 100% perfect.
Another 20 to 30 minutes later, the nurses came to take me to Ammely.
She was not happy.
Her poor eyes were miserable. They described it as a constant feeling of having sand in your eyes. She desperately wanted to just open her eyes and see normally and comfortably. But when she would open her eyes, it would hurt. She would cry and scream and beg for help. Her tears were bloody. She was mad at me for letting them do that to her. She was mad at the nurses for not making it better. She was mad at the doctors for hurting her. It was one of the most pitiful scenes I've seen.
After much frustration that nobody was relieving her pain, she finally asked me if we could pray to Heavenly Father to make her all better.
So Ammely, the nurse and I bowed our heads and said a prayer right there in the recovery room
And she finally fell back asleep.
She continued in her misery for just a couple of days but things constantly improved.
We have been very happy with the results and so far it looks like this one surgery may have done the trick.
Words can't describe the gratitude in my overflowing heart for the many loved ones who stopped and gave heartfelt prayers on her behalf.
And for the heavens for hearing and answering our prayers.
Ammely started Kindergarten!
There just aren't words to tell you how this hits my heart. My firstborn has gone off into the world and I just wasn't ready. I miss her. I do.
Still, I'm just SO excited for her! I crazy love school. Seriously. My heart skips a beat when school supplies come out for sale each year. This quote from You've Got Mail comes straight from my heart.
And she has been loving school. And I love that she loves it. She has a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Newton, at a wonderful school, Eduprize. I will be a bit heartbroken when we have to switch to a new school (a good likelihood next year).
Her first day was a smooth success. You can hear all about it straight from her:
On the Horizon
So there you have it. Just a few of the big things as of late in our little family. And there is more a brewing.
There have been a bunch of truly beautiful "medium" things and "little" things too. Maybe one of these days I'll get around to documenting those too.
Until next time, enjoy your own moments - big or small!
What a beautiful blog. You always write such interesting experiences.
ReplyDeleteI'm always so happy and grateful after reading your blog posts, Bre. :) Thank you for taking the time to write them. LOVE you and your cute family! <3 <3 <3
ReplyDeleteOH my GOSH! I should not have watched the video. Haha! I couldn't stop bawling! ...curse these pregnancy hormones. :P
ReplyDeleteLoved it! Loved it all. Although...as I read it to Kent he said "You've Got Mail was meant to stay in the 90's where it came from." GASP! Blasphemy. ;)
ReplyDeleteWhat a cute little Kindergartener! WHAT?! Lynnden is all potty trained?! You are amazing! 😄 I love, love, love the differences in potty training children. Maggie was a dream compared to all the boys! Great note to end on. Clark will be even better! Just you wait. Literally. 😘 Mwa-hahaha