One of those days...

Yesterday I totally had 'one of those days' where everything seems to go wrong; to the point of it all being pretty humorous. Case in point:

-I picked up a few things (including our 3rd baby monitor...this time I wised up and got a different one WITH a warranty) from Kmart. My brand new debit card wouldn't work. The lady at the bank had told me that any ATM should activate it so while my cashier stood with my stuff, I used Kmart's ATM. Still no luck. I head back to the register to ask if they could continue to hold my purchases while I run to the bank and as I slip my phone back into my diaper bag....oops! there was my new card all along. I was still trying to using the old one.
-We finish the purchase and in my haste to get out of the store I pushed the cart with Emma in it toward the exit only to hear "MA'AM! Did you want your purchases?!?!" I left all the bags at the register. ugh
-I made peach cobbler to have last evening as I hosted a scrapbooking night. Emma was sleeping but I had heard her stirring so I was trying to be very quiet as I opened our very creaky oven door. As I leaned over to put it in, the scarf I was wearing hovered over the oven door and I began to contemplate whether that was a fire hazard. I obviously can't contemplate and work at the same time because I proceeded to dumb the peach cobbler down the oven door. It was a crisis because you can't just scoop it up when the oven is at a toasty 350F! Luckily with the help of my mother-in-law...we were able to salvage the cobbler.
-Next I wanted to make sure our downstairs bathroom was working properly because it had been acting up lately. I had about 10 minutes until I was expecting the ladies to come so I quickly gave it a trial flush and watched in horror as the water overflowed all over the bathroom floor.

Like I said...it was just one of those days! So thankful for a new day and a sense of humor to laugh at all of my mishaps.

Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming...

Yesterday Jarred's aunt invited Emma and I to come out to a local rec center to swim with a few other little kids. Aside from the bathtub, she's never been in the water before so I was excited to see how she'd do. I was keeping my fingers crossed that she'd enjoy it because her daddy has big dreams for her to become a wakeboarder or at least a "river rat." I'm not sure I want my daughter to grow up to be anything that involved the word "rat" in the title! haha She was a little hesitant at first, especially when Aunt Lynn tried to hold her instead of Mommy, but by the end she was splashing and sucking on a rubber ducky. Success! :)

Speaking of successes, I successfully made another chicken yesterday WITHOUT Jarred's help. After seeing what an easy job it was to remove the giblets last time, he refused to help me hold the chicken. Luckily I was able to slide it out of the bag right onto the pan and grab that little bag of grossness without actually having to hold the chicken in my bare hands. It was slightly less intimidating than my first attempt so I'm thinking by the time I'm 37 I might be up to actually holding and touching it. We'll see...no promises! Side note: because I refuse to do any major touching of the chicken I don't tie back the wings like the instructions tell me. What's the purpose of that anyway?? I guess we can all be thankful I'm not in charge of making Thanksgiving dinner this year. I'd clearly be clueless and we'd be having a turkey with no wings tied back, mashed potatoes because I love them and no veggies because I hate them. Oh and dessert of course. A good healthy meal. (not) Maybe my new year's resolution should be to try to start cooking more vegetables.


or not. :) Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Not Yet

My sister-in-law has said, "isn't it amazing how the voice of God comes right out of the mouth of your spouse sometimes?" (or something like that. Sorry Yo for totally butchering that, hopefully the gist made sense) I've recently been experiencing a little taste of that in our home and it made me laugh at God's sense of humor.

I love the holiday season and everything about it. I love Christmas decorations, holiday food, the smells of the season, the music, the excitement...I love love love it. In fact, I love it so much that when the radio stations start playing Christmas music immediately after Halloween is over and the shopping malls have Santa's out months early, I don't mind at all! I crank it up in my car and start thinking about gifts and new traditions and snow and all sorts of fun! My husband on the other hand, as I shared in this post, finds it annoying and often groans "not yet!" When I starting talking about what we might get people this year, he pleads "not yet." And when I want to decorate, he says "not yet." We tease him about his scrooge-ness, and the more we tease, the worse he gets.

So "not yet" has been on my mind, and toss a little Beth Moore bible study into the mix and my wheels start turning. Scripture is FILLED with situation after situation where people are praying, wanting, crying out for something and God seems to respond quietly with a "not yet." His timing is perfect, yet often much slower than we seem to think it should be. Although we don't audibly hear it, many of our prayers are answered with a 'not yet beloved, not yet.' I wish we could hear his gentleness as He whispers it...

To the young teenage girl who thinks this is "the one" and is contemplating intimacy...not yet.

To the couple struggling with infertility and praying desperately for a baby...not yet.

To the single mom working two jobs to make ends meet, wondering when her break will come...not yet.

To the sick one, praying to be healed...not yet.

It's not what we want to hear, but often exactly what we need. God isn't trying to be mean or laughing as we suffer, He just knows that it's not time yet. The truth is that this season that we're in right now has value and a purpose. I don't want to wish away today and miss the treasure it has in store for me because I thought tomorrow seemed better.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 - 'There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.'

Don't misunderstand me. I don't mean to compare my longing for the holiday season to the cry of a couple's heart waiting for a baby. I know they are not even NEAR to being on the same level and I don't mean to make light of desperate prayers. That was simply the thing that got my wheels turning as I began to meditate on a much bigger God lesson. So I will probably still sing along to the Christmas music on the radio and smile as people begin to decorate their homes, but this was a good reminder for me to breathe deep, slow down, and enjoy where I'm at.

This and That

Not too much going on lately so here's a quick list of random things we've been up to or thinking about...(in no particular order)

1. I don't think I've mentioned yet that Emma has completely learned how to sit up by herself. It's hard to say exactly when it happened because she did the tripod sit (supporting herself with her arms) for a little while and then transitioned into longer and longer times on her own. It makes her seem like SUCH a big girl! how has almost 6 months gone by already?!?!

2. We also recently said Goodbye Trailblazer, Hello Tahoe. My mini-van loathing hubby has wanted a Tahoe since we started thinking about trading in my little Yaris for a bigger vehicle so he's thrilled. I'm pretty impartial but I do have to say I miss the Trailblazers heated seats!

3. This weekend is the second Antioch Prayer Initiative at our church. It's basically just 24 hours of intercession and worship hosted by our church but in conjunction with several other local groups. I wasn't able to make it to last month's so I'm excited to join in tonight.

4. The dairy dilemma continues....I haven't been overly careful with my dairy intake (caution got thrown to the wind slightly as I rediscovered just how wonderful it is to be able to cook and eat with dairy) and I think I may have overdone it. Emma's back and legs have what looks to be eczema on them and I'm thinking it's due to the dairy. So once again I'm laying down my love for all-things dairy and taking it out of my diet to see if her skin clears up. oy vey.

5. Emma has 'found her voice' this week. She's been babbling for months but she just figured out how to yell and she's been perfecting it these days. It's so cute to watch her wind up to let out a yell....her arms flap like a little bird out to the sides and her mouth opens up wide and finally a scream comes out. I know someday I'll be asking her to PLEASE stop yelling but at this point, it's still really cute!

6. My sink is STINKY and I need help! A few weeks ago I made homemade meatballs and when I washed out the bowl I used to mix the ingredients some of the raw meat went down the drain. I'm thinking that's what the smell is but I can't get rid of it! I've tried putting a lemon down the disposal but it still smells. Should I do more lemons? Any other suggestions?!?! ?Seriously we have enough stinky smells on this farm and I do not need a smelly sink to top it off! HELP!

ok so this may or may not have been the most exciting post I've ever made, but it's been a week since my last and I had to do something! :) Enjoy the weekend...can you even believe Thanksgiving is coming up this week?!?!

I'm "that" girl today

I am finally getting around to cleaning out the last closet we had shoved random boxes in when we moved. yes that was over a year ago. Job, pregnancy, renovations, baby and laziness are my excuses. haha

Anyway, it's actually pretty fun to unpack boxes over a year later. It's like getting little presents when you are reunited with thing you totally forgot you owned!
Such as....my Christmas CDs! So yes I am THAT girl today..listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving has even been celebrated. It wouldn't be such a big deal if I wasn't married to the one and only Mr. Ebeneezer Scrooge. I thought it was very appropriate last night to bring up the subject of Christmas gifts for relatives seeing as we're already halfway through November. I was quickly informed that we will not be discussing the C word or any related topics until Dec. 15th. ha Don't worry...two can play this game. I won't "discuss" it but you can bet I'll be decorating this home immediately after Thanksgiving is over. :)

Have a great weekend!

Oh and in case there are any other closet Christmas listeners prior to Thanksgiving, AM radio station 1390 is playing all Christmas music already. Enjoy!!

5 Months

Emma,

You are FIVE months old today!! I can hardly believe almost half a year has gone by since you've been born. Time seems to fly with you around!

The Stats....
You don't have a doctor's appt this month so we don't know for sure. Here's my educated guesses :)
Weight: 15lbs
Height: 24 in
Eats: you nurse every 3-4 hrs during the day and we've been doing baby food in between feedings to introduce it to you. You LOVE it!
Sleeps: you take a good morning and afternoon nap and sleep all night. I am definitely way beyond blessed with your sleeping habits!

What Emma's up to these days...
-you learned to sit up recently all by yourself! You've been doing the tripod sit for a few weeks but about a week ago you figured out how to sit for a few minutes without any support!
-trying to put anything and everything into your mouth. still no sign of teeth yet!
-getting really good at your hands to grab things you want
-watching Praise Baby in your exersaucer (I usually only use this if I need to grab a quick shower or make dinner but you light up and smile so big at all of the babies)
-more baby babbles - you are still a very calm, quiet and patient baby but every once in a while, you seem to let loose with a big story!
-laughing more and more especially when we undress you. I'm not sure if it tickles you or you just really like it but you laugh and laugh! You also like when Mommy and Daddy make funny noises.
-eating more and more baby food! Although I'm still primarily breastfeeding, I've been offering food in your high chair about an hour after you nurse, before you fall asleep for a nap. Your favorites are sweet potatoes and bananas!
-finally starting to grow some hair! haha it's not getting much longer yet but definitely a little thicker. I'm dreaming of the days of pigtails, barrettes, and bows!

You are getting more and more adorable every second and we absolutely adore you! I think I might burst with excitement as we get closer to this holiday season. It's my favorite time of year and I can't wait to share it with you this year! We love you baby girl!

A Poem for My Mac

Apple, dear apple I miss you so much!
oh how I wish you would respond to my touch.

We do not know why your screen remains black
but we do know for sure that you're all out of wack.

Your keys are still working, you still make some noise
and Emma's been offering to share her sweet toys.

But baby toys simply won't do in this case
We want to watch online shows in this place.

So please please start working, I don't like this dell
and Jarred is apt to continue to yell. (at the dell, not me)

I promise to love you with sweet tender care
because you and me, we make quite a pair.

The End.

I was JUST coming out of my blog slump when WHAM! our mac breaks! We aren't sure what's wrong with it and don't have money coming out of our ears to pay the Apple people to fix it so we're still working on getting it up and running again. My father-in-law loaned us an extra Dell he had sitting around so I'm so grateful to be back online but definitely missing our mac! I'm also really hoping that we don't have to get a new harddrive because ALL of our pictures on our that computer and are not backed up anywhere else. eek. I think I learned my lesson on that one. Always back up important things.

I've been really enjoying putting dairy back into my diet, but I think I went a little too far. I didn't go with my dairy-loving instincts and have ice cream or even a glass of milk, but I did make a casserole for dinner the other night that had cream of chicken soup and some cheese in it. Em hasn't thrown up really or even gotten very gassy but yesterday I noticed her poor little back was covered in an eczema-like bumpy rash. So once again I'm going to cut dairy out to make sure it causes the rash to go away and then we'll start over again.

Speaking of eating/cooking, I made my very first chicken the other night for dinner. Oh my goodness, I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. I was so excited for this feast and taking a stab at a "real" dinner. You know you haven't really conquered homemaking 101 until you've cooked a thanksgiving-like dinner (or at least that's what I tell myself) So, I take the chicken out of the package and all of a sudden I freeze! The directions are telling me to pick it up and remove the giblets but the chicken looked remarkably similar to a small child laying on his/her belly (minus the head and legs of course). So I call Jarred over to pick it up for me and remove the giblets and he says, "no way!" No way?!? what do you mean no way? You stick yourself shoulder deep into a cow's rear end and you can't do this? To which he replies, "The cow's are alive, THIS is different!" hahaha I'm still trying to figure out how that makes sense! Anyway, I finally get him to pick the thing up and I take responsibility for removing the giblets. (all the while I'm trying to tell myself that you cannot turn back now! you bought the thing, thawed it, opened it up...and you don't want to get an F in homemaking 101!) I cannot tell you how much I silently rejoiced and praised Jesus when I saw that little giblet package already sticking a little bit out so I could grab it without putting my hand where the sun don't shine. (I've always wanted to use that phrase haha YES.) So I'm rejoicing in my success and giving myself a B+ in homemaking because I didn't actually pick it up or tie back the wings and Jarred yells "WHAT? You mean it comes in a packet?!?!?! You made all that fuss and it's packaged? I could have done that!!!" hahaha It was an experience to say the least and in the end it tasted delicious!

Have a great weekend...enjoy the warm weather while it lasts! :)