Good Weekend!

Well, room time on Saturday was a success. I went in to see her after she stayed in her room for 12 minutes... no crying... but I did see she had found her paci from her crib and put it in her mouth. But, I'm okay with that.

After room time on Saturday we played for a bit and then went to church as a family. This was the 2nd week in a row I dropped both Havana and Jonah off at the nursery... and it was the 2nd week we did not get paged out at all! Yay! How refreshing church has become. Looking back I see how we were really at our breaking point. For 21 months we would drive to church with dread knowing we had to drop our daughter off, only to get paged out, and then chase her around church. We didn't look forward to church, we dreaded it. It exhausted us and didn't refresh us. It has only been a few weeks now and we can already tell such a huge difference in our attitudes because of being able to go to church together.

Sunday was an equally good day. We were able to have a nice relaxing morning. Room time went well again! She actually played with her toys for 7 minutes before throwing them over the gate, but no crying at all. We are so proud. I found myself in one of those moments where I had to submit to Jason's lead. I told him how I had made H stay in her room for 12 minutes on Saturday and he said if she had not thrown her toys out of her room by 8-9 minutes that we should really go in and praise her for playing the entire time. I didn't really like that idea, I wanted the 12 minute break, but he's the boss. So I told him that sounded like a good plan. I love the moments when I'm choosing to submit to his leadership and it is something I have to wrestle with... growth for me! :) However, as I said before, she started throwing her toys out after 7 minutes. So we just went to get her at the 12 minute mark.

For some reason, her nap time on Sunday was incredibly long which was wonderful because it gave us all a chance to take a nap! Once everyone was up, we started to get ready for an evening church service we were going to check out. I was meeting some old college friends, who I haven't seen in over 5 years, and it was good. My husband scored some major points by chasing Havana around not only during church, but for the hour and half after church where I sat at the table and talked with old friends. I laughed, and he ran around after a one year old locked in hot gym! I really really appreciated all that he did so that my evening way enjoyable. He's such a good husband and daddy.

This morning, Monday, we took Havana to her first gymnastics time at a local gym. Let's just say that it wore Jason and myself out. This girl has absolutely NO FEAR. None. And no caution either. This gym has a huge enclosed slide that lands on a trampoline. Havana did the slide no less than 50 times in the hour that we were there and she would go down the slide violently coming out head first, rolling down on her side, or whichever way. Scared us to death, but she didn't care at all. She was on a three foot high mount and just stepped off of it as if it were just another step in the house. Oh my goodness. I was glad to have a place for her to channel all her energy... she has lots of pent up energy, but boy, did that place just show us how fearless our daughter is. She is a dare devil and I know she will love roller coasters as she gets older.

After gymnastics we brought her home for room time. She did great! This was the first day ever that she didn't get sad when she knew what was coming. She waved goodbye and did the sign for "I Love You" as she continued to play. She didn't even run to get her paci. She stayed in there for 12 minutes without crying, but she still threw toys over the gate. Perhaps she'll slowly learn to actually play with the toys in her room, but at least she knows what room time is and knows that we come back to get her. I'm glad we're starting room time off with Jonah from such a young age.

There were a few down moments over the weekend... I was reading to H and I pointed to a picture of a moon and I asked if she could say moon. She made my same inflections that I did, but not a sound that could be understood. My heart broke again in that moment. I don't know why her speech delay is hitting me hard right now, but I wanted to cry. How much of my little girl do I not know because she can't tell me? What gifts and talents does she possess that we have not been able to encourage? She went on about the book with a happy face which just made me want to cry all the more. She loves life, she is such a happy girl. I want her to stay that way so I need to make a point to not talk about her speech delay in front of her.

I was talking to Jason about it when she was down for a nap and he said that it might be years before she starts speaking to a point we can understand her. Years! My poor little girl. That night I had a dream that she went to Kindergarten. She was walking around the classroom using her signs and no one knew what she was saying. I sobbed. I'm crying now thinking about the dream.

I have to continually tell myself that this is how God made her. He doesn't make mistakes, He designed her perfectly. While she might have "flaws" to the human mind, those flaws can be used by Him to teach us things about Himself and to show His goodness through them. God doesn't make mistakes, He is very purposeful. He created and designed her to be exactly who she is... and I love that. I need to be better about reminding myself about it when my heart gets sad.

Also, of course, we have more house drama! We received a bill for the 2009 taxes on the house. We didn't buy the house until May 2010 and the 2009 taxes were supposed to be paid off by the sellers at closing. Apparently they weren't. Jason is down at the court house right now trying to work it all out. He will follow up that visit by driving to our Realtor's office to have a nice, stern talk with him. We called him last week when all the water damage came out and he has yet to return our calls. Ugh! It has been one big, fat mess after another. Finally today Jason and I sat down and prayed over the house, dedicating it to the Lord. I know I mentioned doing that on Saturday, but we never did it. Sometimes I'm so ashamed at how prayer times can just get shoved to the back burner. Working on that! :)

While both kids are down for their afternoon naps, I think I'll take a quick nap too! I really appreciate the people who read this blog. I don't feel like I have much to say that would an interesting read for anyone, but I appreciate a place to type out our crazy lives... :)