Trying to keep up

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...

2008-11-29T19:23:00.000-08:00

...newly shaved legs sliding into cool sheets.
(It's even better when the bedding is freshly washed, but I'll have to miss that one tonight.)

house

2008-11-20T06:45:00.000-08:00

Just a short blog since it's been so long---yet again!
It looks like we're finally going to get a house. yes, after how many long months of searching, we have found something that we really like! How could Kyle REALLY refuse this office:

and that really doesn't do it justice--it's the size of the whole rest of the house combined (maybe a little exaggerated). I'm just a tiny bit jealous. But I of course can't say no to a great vintage green bathroom or granite countertops and being able to finally decorate a room for Eli!!
okay, kyle, admit it...even if you're not THRILLED about the location of the house, you can't say no to the adorability of the house!

Must try!

2008-09-18T10:37:00.001-07:00

This is so good---if you've never tried giving this to your kids, you definitely need to, it's amazing!
(Star *** notes are mine)

Erik’s Hidden Green Smoothie--from Growing little sprouts blog

1 banana
1 cup sweet almond milk--***From a vegan blog, and I used almond milk, but I'm almost sure you can use any kind of milk--regular, soy, etc***
1-2 Tbsp raw cacao powder (enough to hide the color!)
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 handfuls spinach, lamb’s lettuce, or romaine--***I was a little wary on this since it's my first spinach smoothie, so I did small handfuls, but I couldn't taste this at ALL...so I'll do bigger ones next time for myself!***
Blend and enjoy a healthy chocolate milkshake!

---Don’t forget to add a secret teaspoon of flax oil or some spirulina powder or other ‘superfood’ of choice – as long as it is undetectable in flavor!
***-I know, this is bad (but read previous post), but this is the first time I've ever used flax oil. So great you can get good for you stuff in yummy smoothies***
***I think I'm also going to add strawberries next time since this really just tastes a like banana chocolate smoothie. Love strawberry banana flavor***

again, I would love any healthy, easy recipes you have!

ask me...

2008-09-18T10:37:00.000-07:00

how much I've worked in the last 48 hours---a total of about 1 hour. and that's what I should be doing now, but then I think, well really, I need to pack Eli's lunch so it'll be ready when he wakes up and we can head off to see Aunt Chelle and Caden...and go for a picnic at the park!! And I know that takes less than 10 minutes, but while doing that I'll get sidetracked and look at how messy the kitchen is and start cleaning it and then think, maybe I should go look for lost cups next to Kyle's computer, and while heading to the bedroom I'll see the stack of unfolded clothes on the couch(that have been that way for 3 days) so I'll start folding them, and then I see my computer and want to check my blog feeds to see if anything new is posted and then refresh facebook to check on what people are up to, then I'll comment on a couple people's status, and then think, I need to work, so I'll pull up a couple spreadsheets and such, and think, oh wait, what happened with cleaning the kitchen? and this circle will happen about 3 times before eli wakes up and only about a quarter of all of it is done and then we're late for the picnic because I didn't finish packing the lunch. Is it just me, or do you suddenly develop ADD when you have a child? I've had a touch of this since before Eli was born but it has developed into crazy, ADD, easily sidetracked, maniac woman. What's wrong with me?
okay, off to start the second round....

Lifestyle change--kyle's favorite phrase!

2008-09-16T07:48:00.000-07:00

Has it really been 3 months since I last blogged? Man, this keeping up thing isn't working out for me! I have failed. :)
I don't have anything to say, but sometimes I think "I want to blog about that" but then I feel like it's not worthy of blogging about as the first blog back in a long time, so I decided I would just start again with nothing and then won't feel bad for a boring blog if I have something to say. Make sense? Not really, but that's okay.

So I have decided that I'm going to start making a lot of my own cleaning supplies and laundry detergent...maybe my own soap, but I have to build up some courage before I start working w/ the lye. And thank you for the shampoo recipe Jo--I'm going to try that too--but Kyle's pretty hair might not like it, so he may pass. What about conditioner--any suggestions?
Anyway, I'm doing this for a couple reasons--one, most of the time it's cheaper..I wouldn't say always b/c I find some pretty good deals sometimes, but most of the time. Secondly, it's safer for the environment and safer for our skins, and a tiny bit safer if (hopefully this would NEVER happen) Eli happened to find his way into the cleaning supplies. Water and vinegar can't hurt too much, right? Anyway, again, I pray that would never happen, but you can never be too prepared! So anyone who has any suggestions on ANYTHING I'd love it!!
And this the brings me to something I've been thinking about. I've been wanting to do this b/c it's safer and better for us...but what about the things I put in my body. Yes, I'm vegetarian---but really, I would actually call myself more of a carbatarian, sugartarian...etc. How is that healthy? how is all the processed foods I put in my body healthy? I care more about what goes on my counters and clothes than what goes in my body? it just doesn't make sense! Earlier this morning I was reading up on raw, vegan eating. No, I don't know if I can go that extreme--actually I'm pretty sure I couldn't. But I do want to eat a lot more nonprocessed food. I want to think more about being healthy than losing weight (although that would be a bonus too!). I want a full lifestyle change(yes, Kyle, I'm using the phrase 'lifestyle change' :)). And I mean all around, cleaning supplies, diet, saving more money, keeping my house clean (we'll see about that one!). SOOOO, anyone who has any suggestions on reading or recipes or anything for more of a raw food diet, I would really appreciate it!!!
Just to add a little extra in here---Eli is 9.5 months old!!! don't talk to me about him being almost a year old. That's a lifestyle change I don't know if I can handle yet--having a one year old. I'm not rushing anything--I love having my little boy still allowed to be called a "baby." Gosh, I love being a mommy more and more everyday! thank you God for blessing me with an awesome husband and wonderful little baby boy!

Two Years!!

2008-06-17T20:20:00.000-07:00

Today was our 2 year anniversary!! It was a great day. We woke up this morning at Kyle's sweet nana's house, of course greeted by a beautiful joyful smile of our little one...kicking me and hitting Kyle's arm to wake us to play...a wonderful reminder of one of the many great things that have come from our marriage.
Two years!?! It's gone by so slowly and so quickly at the same time. It gets better and better all the time. There's been good times and bad, but through it all we've clung to the knowledge that we're together because we are the couple that God brought together to love, honor, cherish, encourage, support one another. And imagine, only 2 years! If the Lord wills, and I PRAY he does, we still have 50+ years to go. To think of all that a married couple goes through in all their many years...wow! What an honor and privilege that God blesses us with through marriage. What a loving God that he would give us this amazing love. A love that shows us the love of Christ...a love that teaches us how to follow after the heart of God.
There's so much to say about it, and I could go on and on, but I'm tired and we're going to pick blackberries and blueberries early, early, early in the morning. Just one more sweet memory that I get to add to the long list of amazing life with my hubby.
Thank you Kyle for being an amazing husband. Thank you for loving me like Christ loves His church. You are more than I deserve, but i praise God that He loves me so much that he would bless me with you!! I LOVE YOU!!!

P.S. And happy late father's day in the blog world!

Not for us

2008-05-31T18:33:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to update to say that the house was definitely not the one for us. Although there is one across the street and four houses down that I'm praying is the one for us. It's for sale by owner and we were able to get in touch with the owner to get stats on it, but then we can't get a hold of them again to schedule a time to see it. We were going to have our realtor do it, but we should have just set a time while we had them. Man, it's beautiful in a great area, and I would love to have it. Granted, we haven't seen inside yet, so we'll see. :)

Also, on another note. I was reading a thread on the diaperswappers message board today. They were all telling how much they have spent on cloth diapers so far. It went from around $250-$5000---Yes, that's FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!!!!! I thought this was supposed to save money? Well, I guess there are people who don't do it to just to save money, there are other positive reasons--or just for the fun of it. It is an addiction...I can tell how if you had the money you would be able to spend a whole lot, but I still can't get over the multiple thousands of dollars. WOW!!! There's one WAHM who sells diapers that just got almost $100 for ONE diaper!!!! I wish someone would pay that much money for something I sewed!!! Talk about a work of art. Good for her! Anyway, just had to throw that out there...I couldn't believe the money people spend on this!

The hunt

2008-05-30T12:41:00.000-07:00

UGH--househunting!! Don't get me wrong, it is so nice that God has blessed us beyond what we deserve and we're even able to look for a house. And even looking at houses is fun...searching through people's pantries, peeking in closets, checking out if they were able to clean the toilet before we got there...all great things. But only for so long. After you've seen 20+ houses they all seem to look alike and you start to get really, really frustrated.
Kyle and I found a house that we really liked last week...it was on my DREAM street, with big beautiful trees in a quite cul-de-sac...who can say no to that!! It definitely needed a little cleaning and tiny fixer upper stuff, but we were ready for that and we put in a bid. FINALLY after a week of being unsure if we were the highest bidder they informed us that the seller wasn't going to pay closing, so we'd be out of pocket more than we'd like, especially on a house we'd have to put even more money into, and then we'd be out of savings...yes, we haven't saved too well for this process..but at least we have some!! anyway, so the search began again. Since then we've driven by--and crossed off--many houses. Tonight we're going to go look IN yet another--at least it passed our "drive-by" standards.
As frustrating as it all is, I just keep reminding myself that God is sovereign, he knows our desires, and he knows what house we're going to be in. The house that we had bid on was great, but I having a feeling it wouldn't have been a good missional neighborhood...maybe a little quieter and shut in than God wants for us? I do pray that he leads us to a house that we will be able raise a big family in, and have people come over and share with us, but also a house that will be in the neighborhood that Kyle and I, and someday soon, our kids can reach out and minister to!

Exciting labor

2008-05-23T17:01:00.000-07:00

I just talked to a friend who had her baby last night. Just as a side note-I LOVE hearing labor stories!!
Anyway, I called her a little bit ago just to leave her a message to let her know that we're praying for her and her baby, but was also secretly praying that she would answer the phone, and God heard my prayers and granted my desire and she picked up the phone...seeming a little eager to talk about her new little one and her experience in having him. WOW!!!! What a fun story!!!! I won't go into the whole thing, but the highlights were: she called her midwife (who is the greatest midwife in the world) telling her she was about to come in, her water broke while she was on the phone with her, she BARELY missed having him in the car...her husband was even talking to the midwife on the phone getting prepared to deliver the baby himself, and then they were all running down the hospital hallway her on a gurny asking if she could push, and having him 38 minutes after her water broke...and a couple of those minutes were getting ready to leave the house, driving 30 min to the hospital, and a couple more getting to the room. WOW!!! Whether you're a big fan of labor stories or not, you have to admit that is soooo cool!!
I think it might be a greater to story to me than many others b/c I'm all about natural childbirth. I had Eli naturally, and I pray that all the other babies that follow will come the same way. I know that this particular friend was not in any way interested in having her baby naturally, so not being prepared for this was a little shocking for her. Whether she feels it right now or not, I think that having a baby naturally empowers you. And you feel that this baby that was created by two people in a very natural way is now being born into this world in a very natural way. Those are only two big reasons out of a million that one should even consider natural childbirth, but I don't really have time to go into the other reasons. :)
One day I'll post my birth story and a few more reasons that it's so amazing...but for now I just wanted to celebrate the birth of another precious baby boy in this world. God is so amazing that He would be willing to create and bless us sinful people with an amazing creature, and I pray that we don't take that for granted but rejoice and praise him everyday for all the blessings that he's given us through these little ones!!!

Milestone

2008-05-20T19:36:00.001-07:00

So this won't be a big deal to most you moms, but it is to me! Eli has fallen asleep FIVE times without nursing!! (maybe that pacifier lesson helped! :))
Most people nowadays tell me "just let him cry himself to sleep," but that's not how I've ever wanted to do it and after I had him I especially didn't. I of course always dreamed my baby would be like me...a WONDERFUL sleeper, but that didn't happen...he takes after his daddy. :) So for the last nearly 6 months I've been nursing him to sleep. Which is really difficult if I sneak out before he's completely asleep. He just wakes back up and SCREAMS until I come back. I don't mind fussing--which he did for a little bit tonight---I can handle that, but SCREAMING is not something I want. I personally feel (remember this is my blog :)), that he's crying for a reason. Even if it's just because he just wants to know I'm there, that's a reason, I'm happy to let him know that I'm not going to leave him if he needs or wants me. Plus, remember I'm his paci, so think of getting your baby to sleep without their paci!!
Now, I'm not going to celebrate too much since it's only been five times...but I'll celebrate those few times. I'm just praying that it'll last now!!
Now, if only he'll stay asleep all night!!

Pacifier time!

2008-05-19T18:50:00.000-07:00

So the highlight of my day today was teaching Eli how to use a pacifier. I say teaching because in order to teach one must show. So imagine me with a pacifier in my mouth showing Eli how this thing works. I'm sucking on mine and I put his in his mouth. He chews on it for a few seconds and then spits it out. (I think he starts realizing after a while he can get it further each time if he REALLY pushes it out.) Then he looks at me and laughs and reaches for my pacifier, takes it out of my mouth and tries to put it in his own....you know whatever mommy has is always better than your own. I help him get it in his mouth and he holds it and chews and giggles up at me "see mommy!! I'm doing it!!" No son, I'm sorry, you're not getting this concept. So after realizing that we have 7 different kinds of pacifiers lying around us and none of them seem to be just right for him, I give up and we lay down together and play with not-a-ball (his toy that's called a ball, and it's not, so we named it not-a-ball.)
Now I know what some moms are thinking---I'm trying to get my baby's paci AWAY from him, why are you trying to give it to him? Those of you who have had a baby who would prefer nipple not plastic in their mouth can totally understand. I don't mind when I'm at home, but when we're out and he wants pacifier NOW...that's no good. Imagine how much your baby uses a paci and replace that with your boob...doesn't sound like too much fun, does it?
So you know you're a mom when you do something (or understand something) as insane as sucking on a pacifier to "teach" your little one how to use it. But, even if it doesn't work, at least it's an easy way to make your baby laugh.

hello and goodbye

2008-05-18T20:47:00.000-07:00

Hello to all! I decided that I would try this blogging thing out....because that's what the good women in my life do, so I want to try and keep up.
But really one of my main reasons on doing this is b/c I had to say goodbye to a very dear friend tonight, and this is a way to keep in touch. So I'll dedicate this first one to her! :)
I've told my hubby a few hundred times how I think that our church has the pastor's wives divide up the other women and each choose a few to mentor, and I'm always glad that it was Tracy that chose (or had someone choose for her) that I would be one of "hers." Not that that's the way it really happened, but regardless, she has been an amazing friend and mentor over the last few years. There are so many things that I couldn't have made it through without her support and caring words of advice and encouragement. Our times of wonderful dinners we all had together, premarital counseling that we had with our guys and without them, my miscarriage, and new pregnancy, natural childbirth, and newborn poop conversations mean so much more than I could ever say. So much to learn, and so much that was taught. I sit here and think of all the things I still have to learn and how it will be so different now that it's not the "I'll catch her at church and ask her" times anymore. Sure a lot of our conversations were on the phone and through e-mail and that can still continue...but it's different.
I know I sound like a high schooler who is about to graduate and move off to college. But it's different when your questions of first loves and answers to math questions turn into how to be the best wife and mother you can be. She's been the one I look at when I think about the wife and mother I want to be.
I praise God that he did link us up--through a pastor's wife mentoring program or not--and that I was able to learn all that I could from her over the last few years.
I pray for you Tracy and the women that you're going to befriend over the years. That you will continue to be an inspiration to women around you. And I pray that they take the time to see what an amazing woman you are and not take you for granted.
Keep blogging Tracy!! I'll keep you updated on my side.
Thank you so much for all you've done for me. I love you!