Tanks, mom. Tanks, buggy. Tanks dad.

Whoa, that title threw you for a loop, huh? I know what you were thinking...lay off the meds, sweetheart, and get some rest, you've gone coo-koo.
No friends, that is toddler talk and it is my most favorite thing of late. There is not a word spoken in this house that doesn't get attempted by the 14-teeth, walking little person. Whether he is attempting to sing like I do to Beyonce's "Halo" while cleaning the counters or playing games with "buggy" by repeating his baby sounds - our toddler is the next thing to add to society with a mouth and an opinion - and a loud and strong one at that. I used to try to keep track of the things he would try to say but then yesterday I read that toddlers learn atleast 10 new words a day so his vocabulary is surpassing my free time to document anything. But so you can ooh and ahh with me here are some of my favorites are:

Umreya, Umbrella
Buggy, Brother
Cargy, Carter (my little bro)
Sawberwy, Strawberry
Daddy Yerk, Daddy works
Bi' diddy, Big Daddy (Brad's Dad)
Tanks Gah, thanks God

and the one that takes the cake every single time....."Shuh' Doe! (shut the door)" It is the most Southern thing since my mawmaw's sweet tea and because I think it is so funny I say it at all the wrong times and then he repeats me repeating him at all the wrong times and now I am pretty sure he has lost the meaning in the first place. I will admit, I said a word I thought I'd never say in front of my husband, let alone my child the other day and within a second it was repeated. Yikes! I am not ready for this whatsoever...I am too tired to compete a sentence, let alone, highly consider what comes out of my mouth and filter whether it is edifying or not! But, I've got to start somewhere, someday. You've always heard "good in, good out" so I know I need to infiltrate my tired mind with good things so that that is all that will come out as opposed to occasional not-so-pleasant words and groans.

And on that note, sort of, I've also got to do some deciding about other things. I think it's fair to say that life is coming at us at all angles right now. I feel like a sub par friend, daughter, wife, homemaker, sister, and mother. Nothing seems to get done to completion even with the best of intentions. I've also been riding the "grace train" for quite some time now and bringing Brad along with me for the ride. Night after night I will enforce my "state of the union" on Brad as he is trying with all he has just to relax for a whole 20 minutes before we go to bed and do it all over again. Part of my "address" talks of how we need to have grace on ourselves and each other because we are in a hard season of life right now. Isn't everyone, though? At some point, I think I have to enjoy the grace that I am giving myself but decide to decide on some things and take some action. Does that make sense? I'm afraid if I stay on this train too long all of a sudden I will have not made any real decisions and I will have fallen into society's ideals for how I should raise my family and treat my marriage. I have always held tight to dear Aaron Tippin's profound words - you've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything. And while society might be trendy and interesting and glamorous - I don't want to fall into that.....an entertaining lifestyle with no substance...no real fruit.

As you can probably tell, I just came home from this mom's bible study that I go to every Tuesday. And luckily I leave every single Tuesday feeling more empowered and more equipped to do the hardest job I know - mothering little people. Today was equally as good as the past Tuesday's but a little more powerful in motivating me to not waste these precious, short days by just trying to survive them. Yes, most days that is all we can do - get atleast one of the three of us out of our pajamas and stuff a cereal bar in one of our mouth's for nourishment - but there are rare days where I do think God gives me a little more so that I can "decide" what I would like our home to feel like and how I would like our two boys to feel about our family. Thank you, God, for that little extra every so often.

Even if he doesn't understand it now I love our time every night right before bed where we sit at the top of the stairs and say prayers with Brooks. William listens in and grins. He may just be repeating words and I could have him thank God for broccoli and he wouldn't know the difference but I am glad that we made that decision from day one - that we would all pray together (atleast when we can...and trust me, it certainly isn't every night but atleast we've started) and be a grateful and graceful family.