Big Girl Bathtime

Look how she's sitting up and looking right at the camera! My five pound baby girl is GROWING. UP.

Life without CaringBridge was different yesterday, it felt funny not sitting down at midnight to write something... Glad I have this outlet and get to continue to share Mercy's and my growth! Tomorrow, however, I'm declaring a computer fast... it's Good Friday, I'm going spend the day thinking about that, making a couple pillows for the nursery, vacuuming and doing laundry... and of course, snuggling with my little one as much as possible!

Today was a big day, actually... Chris and I had decided that when Mercy hit five pounds, we would take the sling out of her little bath tub and give her a big girl bath! We could have been doing that all along, her umbilical cord fell off long ago in the NICU (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mercyellzey/journal/19 ...see 'Poopy Diapers and Bellybuttons' toward the bottom), but she's so tiny, we've just been a little scared and nervous about trying.

So bathtime is hard for Mercy, we believe that being clean is very traumatic for her. She's a serious screamer during diaper changes and baths... so I was a little nervous and interested to see how she would handle her big girl bath.

Well... She handled it like a champ! I was so proud of her, I cried a little! She let out just a few quick screams, but for the most part, she just looked around wide eyed and let me bathe her... then she screamed when I pulled her out like she wanted to stay in! So funny...

Got me thinking... about the things I whine and scream about (maybe one day I'll write about my pumping trials!) Really, what in the world do I have to whine about in my life right now? How blessed we have been over the last 2 1/2 months! God has been so good to us, and what would be fitting is for me to live each day of my life in solid gratitude to Him. And that's all.

But is that the case? Of course not. I'm just not quite there yet, and if you're honest, you probably aren't either. Hmm... maybe we need big girl baths ourselves!

Sometimes when I ask God to change my heart about whatever I'm whining about that particular moment, what I'm asking for is somewhat of a sponge bath... just a little dab here and there, while I'm not actually changing my actions at all, still griping along the way... when what my heart actually needs is FULL submersion, clean this girl up, cleanse my thoughts, purge them of negativity and sinfulness. God is GREAT, and faithful to do that. Maybe that's how to turn my whining and moaning into singing and dancing to His glory!

I think it's time for a big girl bath! What about you?


"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
By his wounds you have been healed."
1 Peter 2:24
Yes, thinking about that tomorrow... awesome! Enjoy salvation, my friends, let's live our live in gratitude for it!