Perspective

The last few weeks have been hard. Wyatt started sleeping through the night... or what he considers the night. I've been hoping every night for months that we would reach this point. Then life would be easier; things would flow normally. Right? Wrong. He sleeps for 10 hours, meaning morning is 5:30 AM. We've tried pushing bed time, letting him cry in the morning, and numerous other things. 5:30 it is.

Yesterday, I hit the wall. I'm tired! 5:30 is not when my body wants to wake up. Going bed in time to wake up at 5:30 is not when I want to go to bed. After being up with a whiny yet energetic baby for an hour, I fell apart. How could I keep going? Cory helped me calm down, we got back on track, and the day started. We've been giving Wyatt a new food at breakfast every few days, and it was time for yogurt. I've been reading about when to give what foods and felt good about this. It would be so fun for something other than baby cereal or fruits and veggies.

He loved it for a few minutes... Then I noticed the hives. There were just a few red bumps by his eye where he had rubbed (Wyatt's great at spreading food everywhere on himself) So we stopped, cleaned up, and took stock of the situation. Thankfully, he had just a few spots on bumps - almost all where he had food on him and they disappeared within minutes. My mom has some unfortunate experience with allergies, having discovered Laura's peanut allergy as a toddler. She talked me through what to watch for. I think it may have just been a little early for dairy. No big worries yet.

And more importantly, I was reminded of how important my baby and my job as a mom are. Even that little bit of hurt was more than I wanted him to have. The rest of the day was enjoyable, not a burden. It is a blessing to be here with him and to take care of him. It's not going to be easy. He doesn't make it easy as he gets into everything. I have to look at what is good in that - he's learning, he's exploring, he's growing.

More than any other time in my life, I'm content with where God has placed me. It's easy to let the little things take over and rob the joy from that. Today I make the choice to live abundantly in His love and His will. I am thankful for the opportunity to take changes with a smile and a prayer for guidance. No more fear and stress as a first response. Hopefully, no more at all!