Growing Pains, Pangs, and Peace

If only I could write without having to think of a clever title, intro, or conclusion, blogging would be ever so much easier and definitely much more frequent for me!

So we’ll just dive right in. My apologies if it seems rash and absent of smooth transitions. :-)

Ryan got the promotion!!!! His knowledge and ability and ideas were tested to the core, and he passed with flying colors. We are so excited, and I have sensed such a peace in his spirit ever since. I haven’t even told him this, but I feel like he had so outgrown his old position that he was feeling chafed in his physical  inability to move into the leadership role he was so ready for mentally and spiritually. It was more stressful to be second in command than it is to be first in command. Does that make any sense at all? I am just so, so proud of him.

It seems that this promotion opens up so many doors for our family. Even though it requires more responsibility, he is in control of his schedule, which will ultimately lead to more time together. There is potential for more income down the line, and that inspires a whole host of possibilities. Time will tell. But in the meantime, we are very thankful.

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We got our daughter back from her grandparents’ house, and there have been additional struggles with bedtime. It’s almost insane how weird it is that Ryley is such an energetic, sweet, healthy girl during the day, but bedtime seems to be a nightmare. The tummy has seemed a little better, and now it’s just dealing with unfounded fears and anxiety. I kind of wonder if she maybe gave herself an ulcer, which the medicine healed?

It’s almost like, because we have sheltered Ryley so much, she cannot process the world as it is. We have set such a basis for a universe of butterflies and fairies that when she hears about tragic news stories, or people that we know that have died, or people that are just plain mean to her, she simply can’t handle it. So those things stick with her, and her mind drifts into fears of death and sickness. She became so afraid of throwing up that she was making her stomach sick. And the sicker she felt, the more afraid of throwing up she became. And that is a spirit of fear. The icky, horrible, satanic spirit of fear that wants to do nothing but cripple us.

So at my parents’ house and also at ours, we have all been drilling the Word of God right into the center of her heart. We’ve had long talks with her during the day encouraging her to so fill her heart up with thoughts of the Lord that there’s simply no room for that spirit of fear.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” – Phillippians 4:8

The other problem is that when Ryley was little, we started letting her crawl into bed with us early in the morning. Well, over time, it got earlier and earlier until she started waking up at 1 or 2 a.m. and crawling into bed with us. Sometimes she’s sleep-walking, and sometimes she’s awake. It depends on the night. But we were too tired and lazy to deal with it back then, so we grew accustomed to it, and now we rarely wake up at all. And now we have a little girl who only wants to sleep with us (or her grandparents), and her sleep cycle is only 3-4 hours long.

But we’re learning to deal with one thing at a time. I did some online research about child insomnia, as well as the benefits and negative effects of co-sleeping, and I learned that co-sleeping’s not as harmful as the western world has made it out to be. But I couldn’t find anything about what age it should stop. So we decided to not fight that battle just yet.

Right now, we just need to get her to go to sleep in the first place. And as much as I fought against it, one trick seems to work. Soft John Michael Talbot worship music, vitamin B, a glass of milk, and one of us sitting with her in her room while she’s drifting off. I fought it. I thought, “She’s seven. This is ridiculous. I shouldn’t have to sit here.” But it’s been a week, and it works. And she’s actually been sleeping longer and ending up in our bed less and less.

Plus, she’s still pretty little. As much as we try not to baby her, maybe she still needs it a little bit. ;-)

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Ryley and I went to our city’s free KidSpree this last weekend, and she had lots of fun…

We waited 30 minutes in line for the pony rides. But she loved it!

Except for when the ponies pooped! Check out Ryley’s face…

She got to make her own top…

And try out instruments at the musical petting zoo…

Pappaw’s girl…

Mammaw’s girl…

I think she looks pretty good!!! :-)

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Some funny Ryleyisms of late….

Ryan and I were looking for something in our garage, and we came across my piano trophies from the little competitions my piano teacher signed us up for in grade school. There’s a whole box…not because I was that great, per se, but just because there were lots of competitions.

Well, Ryley was in awe.  “Mommy! Why on earth don’t we have these on display in our house?” :-)  She was so upset with me!!!

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We were at dinner with my aunt and uncle the other night, and Ryley was being very talkative, like usual.

My aunt leaned over and whispered, “You talk a lot!”

Without missing a beat, Ryley leaned back and whispered, “That’s my gift!”

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Ryan and I really enjoyed our week alone. Not that our friendship needed rekindling, but it sure was nice to talk without being interrupted and actually be able to express a complete thought for once! It was really, really nice to just be best friends. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for putting up with sleepless nights and talkative days for an entire week. ;-)

It is so good to have Ryley home, though. She is such a tremendous blessing, and we are absolutely crazy about her. It’s hard to believe that she turns EIGHT only one day from now. Many birthday surprises are in store. Stay tuned!

(1st birthday)

 

(2nd birthday)

(3rd birthday)

(4th birthday)

(5th birthday)

(6th birthday)

(7th birthday)