An Impromptu Hiatus

Last week I was forced to take an impromptu hiatus from the blog. It broke my heart, but I had to. Sunday morning I woke up with a stomach ache, but by the end of the day it was pretty much gone. Monday morning that was not the case. My body hated me Monday morning. But by noon, I was back to normal. I was able to eat. Maybe I was over it. Then Tuesday came and I woke up sick again. Around noon things got better, but I couldn't eat a bite. It was not good. Wednesday was the same as Tuesday, only worse. My body seriously hated me.

At this time, we were beginning to wonder if I was pregnant. I was at my worst in the mornings right after waking up. This gave me a little hope. If I was pregnant, then being sick was way worth it. Now, this suspicion wasn't all based solely on this new bought of what I dubbed "morning sickness," with breastfeeding, my cycle is way off so I have no idea when it's coming or going. But every test I took was negative. I know there are such things as false negatives, so I had my hopes set kind of high.

Thursday, I woke up and could barely walk or move. I went to pick up Bug, and could barely get her in my arms to nurse her (yes, I continued to nurse her, if I had a virus, I wanted her to have all the antibodies my body was producing). The hubs had been home until one all week, so he was still there with me. I looked him in the eyes and told him we needed to go to the hospital. So I called my mom and she came to stay with Bug as we went to the emergency room. We ended up spending all day there. They gave me an IV and anti-nausea medicine in the ER for extreme dehydration. They also said I had the stomach flu, but I disagree with that diagnosis. Not once had I run a fever. Finally, they sent us home after 4.

That night I was finally able to eat again. Now, I hadn't eaten since Monday afternoon, so this food was welcomed. I thought that maybe I was on the mend. Friday morning held promise, but Friday night I took a turn for the worse. We thought I might have to go back to the hospital. But I wanted to wait it out again. If I got worse, we'd go if I got worse. 

Thankfully, that was the last time I got sick. I am happy to report that I am on the mend. And no I'm not pregnant. I got confirmation on that Friday morning. So, with pregnancy not being the case, we still don't know what was going on. I'm just happy to be on the mend and able to eat again. Eating is a wonderful thing, y'all. 

Here are some adorable pictures from an adorable Bug. She was great while this mommy was so sick! I'm so blessed to have her!

Bug doesn't like the feeling of hard flooring on her knees, so she improvises.

This little one is getting the hang of using her sippy cup! She loves it!

Mommy Moments Blog Hop!

Hey mamas!
Welcome back for another great week of Mommy Moments Link Ups! Thank you for linking up and for spreading the word last week! We love all of the great posts!

 This week's most viewed link belongs to Gabrielle from MamaGab! Her post To The Discouraging Mom was one of my favorite posts that has ever been linked up here! I love Gabrielle's heart for her children even in the midst of chaos.

 I hope I always choose to encourage other mothers and not point out the negatives of motherhood. That's one of the whole goals of Mommy Moments...to encourage one another!

Our guest host this week is Stephanie from Dreams Turned To Plans! Make sure you stop by and follow along with her today!


Now it's time to link up your posts! All you have to do is...

1. Follow Host: The Life Of Faith 

 Co-Hosts: The Not Quite Military Wife, Beautiful Family Affairs and The Mrs. 
Guest Host: Dreams Turned To Plans

2. Link up your post!
Post can include anything related to mommy-hood, children, homemaking, pregnancy etc. If you aren't a mom yet, feel free to link up your preparation for motherhood, your journey as you try to conceive, or even a post that would be encouraging to the other moms in the party!

3. Add the Mommy Moments button to your post or blog so everyone knows where you are linking up!

4. Explore some of the other posts in the link-up and say hello to some new blog friends! 

5. Tweet or Share the link up on Facebook so we can all make even more friends!

Tweet

<div align="center"><a href="http://the-life-of-faith.blogspot.com//search/label/baby" title="The Life Of Faith"><img src="http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k537/faithkonrath/mommymomentsbutton.jpg" alt="The Life Of Faith" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

P.S. We will be having a new guest host every week! Want to be a guest host of the Mommy Moments Blog Hop? Send Faith a message at farmprincess14{at}gmail{dot}com. We would love to have you!

Mommy Moments Blog Hop!

Hey mamas!
Welcome back for another great week of Mommy Moments Link Ups! Thank you for linking up and for spreading the word last week! We love all of the great posts!

 This week's most viewed link belongs to Becky from My Sweet Moose! Her post Pregnancy Sucks really hit home for me as well as I experienced a similar pregnancy. Often women who struggle through pregnancy feel so alone and guilty for not enjoying the process. I love Becky's honesty and ability to share how rough pregnancy can really be! 


Now it's time to link up your posts! All you have to do is...

1. Follow Host: The Life Of Faith 

 Co-Hosts: The Not Quite Military Wife, Beautiful Family Affairs and The Mrs. 

2. Link up your post!
Post can include anything related to mommy-hood, children, homemaking, pregnancy etc. If you aren't a mom yet, feel free to link up your preparation for motherhood, your journey as you try to conceive, or even a post that would be encouraging to the other moms in the party!

3. Add the Mommy Moments button to your post or blog so everyone knows where you are linking up!

4. Explore some of the other posts in the link-up and say hello to some new blog friends! 

5. Tweet or Share the link up on Facebook so we can all make even more friends!

Tweet

<div align="center"><a href="http://the-life-of-faith.blogspot.com//search/label/baby" title="The Life Of Faith"><img src="http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k537/faithkonrath/mommymomentsbutton.jpg" alt="The Life Of Faith" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

P.S. We will be having a new guest host every week! Want to be a guest host of the Mommy Moments Blog Hop? Send Faith a message at farmprincess14{at}gmail{dot}com. We would love to have you!

High 5 For Friday - Labor Day Weekend Recap

This edition of H54F is filled completely with a recap of our Labor Day weekend!

One: Friday, we made the trek to east Atlanta to preview a new vehicle for me. Ladies and gentlemen, I am now the proud owner of a minivan! Soccer moms unite! No seriously. I love my minivan. I've had it for one week total and I couldn't be more excited about it. Now just to fill up those seats!

Two: Saturday, we made our first road trip in the new van. South Carolina here we come! It was my mom's birthday weekend, and as it was a big one, we decided to party in style: by renting a lake house and enjoying some football!

Three: My brother is a Clemson graduate and I'm a die-hard UGA fan, so this weekend was a little tense. I was very happy with a good game, but depressed that UGA lost. Oh well, everyone's cheering for the Dawgs this weekend!

Four: It was Bug's first trip to the lake and she loved being in the water! Sunday, we were joined by my cousin and her 4 kids at the lake house. Bug loved hanging out with the older kids. They just fascinated her!

Five: It was a great weekend spent with family. It was nice just to have some family time. The hubs, Bug, and I got to experience some great time just hanging out, which is very rare these days. Bug also loved all the attention of my family and my mom's friends. 

This weekend was one for the books. Such a lot of good memories and sweet time. I'll always remember Bug's giggles and splashes as she played in water and the hubs running around with my cousin's kids. It was nice to forget about all the troubles that we've been facing and just enjoy the time we had.

Friday's Letters

Dear Friday, When did you get here? I feel like this week has flown by. I'm not ready for you to end just yet. Dear Next Week, Please don't be too hard on us. A lot is changing and I would like for it to happen slowly. Dear Bug, I can't believe you're crawling! Please slow down! Dear Hubs, I love you so much and everything happens for a reason. Dear Football, My life has been incomplete without you. Go Dawgs! Go Falcons!

Top 10 Reasons To Get Pregnant Right After Baby

10. You no longer need to cover up the belly. No more big t shirts or belly bands! You can let that bump shine once again!

9. Good excuse to indulge into those cravings, again. I can still use the excuse that I'm breastfeeding right?

8. You get your luxurious hair back. I don't know about y'all, but I'm tired of all that hair coming out all the time.

7. Good excuse for your forgetfulness. I'm still using the baby brain excuse, but pregnancy brain seems much more legit in my opinion.

6. The smells. You know you'll miss the smell of sour milk and poop when they're gone.

5. Pregnant women just look good. Being pregnant will hopefully cover up those dark circles under your eyes with all the glow-i-ness that occurs.

4.  Putting away the baby things can wait. Women (me included), get extremely emotional when putting away each different stage of clothes or toys. If you've got another bun in the oven, then you can just leave the toys where they lay and dream of the little one that will soon occupy them!

3. Forgetting things. I know we covered the excuse for forgetfulness, but if you have a baby relatively quickly after the first, then you don't have time to forget all the things with baby one and apply them to baby two (not that they'll work).

2. The dreaded periods. It was nice not having that friend come and visit for nine months, and then when it returns...it's unpredictable. If you're pregnant, you don't have to worry about any of that!

1. Who said you needed sleep? If you have another baby right away, you get all of your sleepless nights out of the way right off the bat! That way, just when you're getting used to sleeping again, you don't have a little bundle changing things up.

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And for the record I'm not pregnant.

Raising a Princess in an Anti-Princess World

When we found out that we were having a girl, pictures of Disney princesses filled my head. I have to say, I love princesses. There is just something about them that makes me smile and turn into a five year old little girl again (but to be honest, most things can make me turn into a five year old again. What can I say I'm a child at heart.) I melt at the chance to meet Cinderella at Disney, and I will wait in line for hours to meet Ariel (my favorite princess of all time). One thing I remember about my great grandfather is that he always called me princess, and I always knew that my husband would be the man that called me his princess (and yes, the hubs did). So when we found out we were having a girl, I was so excited that we were going to have a little princess of our own!

Fast forward nesting being in full swing and to browsing through Pinterest at all the girly stuff you can imagine. Amidst all the typical girly stuff, I found many articles and blog posts about raising girls. Most of them shocked me. There are so many "anti-princess" campaigns out there. There are blogs out there specifically made to address this and promote this campaign. Some articles even go to lengths of saying that the allowing your little girl to be a princess will ruin her.

Why are so many people afraid of princesses? What is it about the concept of princess that makes people go running? Is it because they are afraid of girls being girls and being treated as such? In that case, what does being a girl mean, and why does the princess phenomenon make that such a bad thing? 

I can't help but look to the book Captivating by John and Staci Eldridge. One line in particular stands out: 

"every woman in her heart of hearts longs for three things: to be romanced, to play an irreplaceable role in a great adventure, and to unveil beauty."

Think about the princess tales. What does each princess long for? They long to be loved (Cinderella), they want great adventure (Ariel and Belle), and to unveil beauty (Snow White).

All Cinderella wants is to be loved. She is living in a house with her evil stepmother and evil stepsisters who do not love her and make sure she knows it. Without her father or mother there, she is searching for the one thing she does not have: love. She finds that in her prince charming. When they find each other, Cinderella glows. His love brings out the light in her.

Ariel feels trapped in her world under the sea. She wants something more. She knows there is something more out there for her. Out of fear of her father, she is forced to keep her desires hidden in a secret cave. When her father destroys her dreams of adventure, she turns to the evil sea witch. She is given the one thing she desires: to have legs. With those legs she's able to take part in a great adventure that no one she knows have ever gone on. Belle is the same way. She is trapped in a world surrounded by people that aren't like her. She "want[s] adventure in the great wide somewhere, [she] want[s] it more than [she] can tell" as she states in her song. Both Belle and Ariel long for adventure.

The whole reason Snow White is forced into hiding is the Queen wants her killed. Why does she want her killed? Because Snow White is "the fairest of them all." Snow White unveils beauty. Even Grumpy smiles when she is near. The Queen tries to squelch that, but in the end Beauty wins.

Young girls experience this at a young age. It is not because of the princess movement. It is much more deep seated than that. This desire is in our very being. We long to be romanced, we long to play a role in a great adventure, and we long to unveil beauty - our beauty. 

There's just something about being a princess that makes every girl feel loved, special, a part of something bigger, and beautiful. Putting on that simple dress and tiara can change a young girl's perspective in a heartbeat. It can easily give them something that they desire in their heart of hearts. 

Why is that a bad thing?

Being a princess does not mean that she is weak and must have a prince to come to her rescue. Being a princess allows her to feel loved, beautiful, adventurous, and ultimately valued! Isn't that a wonderful thing for little girls to feel? Isn't that how we want them to feel? 

And most importantly, my little girl deserves to be a princess because she is the daughter of the King. She is the cherry on top of His masterpiece. Made in His image. She is a princess and should be treated as such.

So I say, bring on all of the princess paraphernalia. Bring on all the tutus, tiaras, and the long, twirly skirts. I welcome it all with open arms. My girl deserves to be a princess. She deserves to be loved. She deserves to have adventures. She deserves to be beautiful. 

She deserves to be a princess.

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