Letters

This was pretty popular last time around so here we go again.

Dear Colson,
You only slept for 35 minutes and that isn't long enough. I know you're exhausted so just give in, stop crying and go back to sleep. Oh and if you wake up your sister, I'll cry.
Love,
Momma knows best

Dear Emma,
Although you are napping better than your brother right now, I didn't love the SEVEN visits you blessed me with last night. I'm exhausted, cranky, and delirious from all of your late night adventures. Please go back to being the good sleeper you used to be.
I'm begging you.
Love,
Sleepless in Pennsylvania

Dear me,
The mall seemed like such a good idea this morning. Make a few returns, pick up a few things for the kids, and maybe even try the food court if I was feeling fun. That all changed when I pulled into the parking lot and realized I forgot a stroller. Colson is a 20 lb heavyweight who I swear gained an extra pound with every step. I lugged him, the big diaper bag and our winter coats to the first store only to have Emma tell me she had to pee. We found the nearest bathroom, made it back to the store and must have completely lost touch with reality because despite my sweatiness, sore arms, and all common sense I decided to throw caution to the wind and head to another store. GIGANTIC mistake. Said store didn't have what we were looking for, colson got even heavier, I got sweaty-er and Emma decided that she was "too tired of walking." we spent the next 30 minutes attempting to make it out alive, while Emma cried loudly as we walked, stopping at every single bench along the way to rest....her feet and my arms.
What a nightmare.
Love,
Crazy

Dear 2011,
Ummmm you're done already? Holy moly, you went fast! But you were filled with great things - 3 year anniversary, 2 year birthday and 1 great baby boy! I'm looking forward to 2012.
Love,
Me

Dear Christmas loving Sarah,
Don't forget to water the Christmas tree next year. Maybe then you'll be able to keep it around longer. Even watering it just once might help.
Love,
The pine needle covered carpet

Dear everyone,
My boy fell back asleep and my girl isn't awake so I'm taking a nap. Hallelujah.
Love,
Sarah


HAPPY NEW YEAR!:)

Do not be afraid

A little word to the wise (critical), I'm typing this on our iPad so spelling mistakes are probably going to happen. Sorry!

One of my life verses is 2 Timothy 1:7 "for he has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind." I am well aware that one of my weaknesses is fear and timidity so I often have to declare this over myself. Recently I've had opportunities to speak this over Emma as well. She started telling us that she was scared as bedtime . I'm not sure if she actually is scared of something or if its just a scheme to postpone bedtime. Either way, it got me thinking....

My immediate response when she said she was scared was "oh sweetie you don't have to be afraid. Mommy and daddy are right downstairs and we will always protect you." as I've been processing her fear and our responses to it lately, I've been chewing on some deep stuff. I'm not really sure I've got it all answered or figured out, but it's good stuff to ponder and think about.

One of the things that I really want to be aware of as we raise our children is the truths that we teach them. I don't want to assume that because Emma is only 2, that she can't understand a concept so I'll just make something up in the meantime. Does that make any sense? Case in point: I vividly remember when I was little, I had (ok I still do) have a wild imagination and I would often gt myself scared about something that might happen. My mom would reassure me by reminding me that we were good people who didn't have enemies or make trouble with the law or hang around questionable people so nothing was going to happen. All of that was true, but that reasoning isnt really accurate. Just because you're a good person doesn't mean you're safe from something bad or scary happening to you. The real truth? You can be mother tereesa's best friend but still fall victim to some senseless random act of evil.

So i started to think about what I really want Emma to know. I don't just want to feed her a line to get her to fall asleep. I want to be building a spiritual foundation of Truth even at here little age that she can build on as she grows. So, what do I want my girl to know and what can she understand at two?

-I want her to know that yes there are scary things in our world and it's ok to feel scared. Sometimes the fear that we feel is actually our spirit giving us a heads up that something is off about that person or situation. it's called discernment.

-I want her to know that Mommy and Daddy will always do everything in our power to protect her and keep her safe.

-I want her to know that in those times when something is beyond our power, Jesus is ALWAYS with her and through prayer she can call on Him for protection, peace and guidance.


So we've been talking about all this little by little and she may not understand it all right now but I'm believing that as she grows and develops, she will get revelation about some of these things. I know some of it is sinking in. I could cry every time I hear her playing with her dolls and praying to Jesus for healing for one of them to make that alllll better. It's so sweet and I just keep praising the Lord that He's planting seeds in her heart even now. I can get really overwhelmed when I think about all the lofty spiritual concepts that I desire for her to know that I'm sure I barely even have a fraction of understanding about. How do you teach kids these things?!?!?! Thank goodness I just have to be a willing vessel and mouthpiece for the Lord to work through and praise the Lord there is abundant grace to cover us!


"So do not be afraid, for I am with you; do nt be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10

Life

Oh sweet friends,

I'm not sure what to say. My heart is heavy yet full of life all at the same time. There's so much going on lately that it's hard to put it all into words much less make a comprehensible blog post.

My little boy started crawling today. I can barely stand how cute his little wobbly shaky first crawls are. I know all too fast he'll be scooting all over this house and I'll wistfully remember the days that I could sit him down and he'd stay in one place. But I'm proud of him and so grateful for his healthy development. How is he almost 8 months old already??

Check out those sah-weet play fireman boots he's sporting! haha

We just got back from a long weekend at our mountain cabin with 2 other families. It's always enjoyable to get away (and have Daddy's undivided attention and presence!) but I love coming home to my own bed and our normal routines. Let's just say all four of us in one room and other families in the next room = no tough love for Colson at night AKA Momma got NO SLEEP. In case you've never encountered me on no sleep, I'm a teradactyl....to put it nicely.

It's 13 days until Christmas. How does this holiday sneak up so fast every year? Emma is asking 18 times a day to open the presents. (13 days are going to be SO LONG for her) She has a princess stocking in her room and a little tree that she falls asleep gazing at every night.

Working really hard on some artwork with Papa

(and in the spirit of sharing how proud I am of both of my kids and documenting those "big milestones") Emma's made the transition to no more diapers! She's been potty trained for over 6 months during the daytime but has been wearing diapers to bed. But....no more! It happened by accident, but she's pretty much mastered it. You watch, I'll be up at 2:30am tonight changing sheets just because I was braggin on her to you guys.

And most of you local people have probably seen the news coverage of the family, the Martins, who lost 3 of their children this past week in a car accident. I've had the privilege of knowing the mom for a few years and my heart can't even comprehend what they are going through. They are incredible people who are keeping soft hearts to Jesus and allowing Him to turn their sorrow into praise and giving Him the glory through their testimony. Here's a snippet of a news interview they did this week. Please continue to pray for them.


Goodnight :)

Emma-isms

Two and a half has got to be one of the most hilarious ages. (Also one of the most draining, but definitely oh so hilarious). The things that come out of Emma's mouth astound me and crack me up all day long. I've been trying to keep an ongoing list on my phone of her quirky mispronunciations at this age so I can remember them and record them.

Here's a few of my favorite mispronunciations:
-Beetle: This is my all time fav. She's not really talking about a bug....she's saying beautiful. "Emma wooks so beetle Mommy." "Dis dress is beetle beetle beetle!" I will honestly be a little sad when she outgrows this one. It's so cute.

-No anks: No thanks

-E den: The end

-I wub you sooooo much: self-explanatory

-No way Zoe: No way Jose. She's never heard of the name Jose, but she likes Zoe from Sesame Street so she just substitutes that name.

-pawincess: princess

-nosemen: snowmen

-papa-sicle: popsicle

-marsh-toe: marshmallow



Some of my favorite phrases that she uses ALL the time:
-"I wub you sooooo much."
I probably hear this about 800 million times a day and usually it's accompanied by a kiss and a big hug. She is very very affectionate and loves to verbalize her feelings. It is incredibly adorable and so sweet. I'm soaking up all the affection I can get. :)

-Emma's so happy Mommy.
Here's the story on this one: The smart girl knows that after lunch time when she starts to get fussy, I often tell her that I can tell that she's ready for a nap because she is getting whiny or disobedient. So lately she's been waking up for the day around 4:30 or 5:00 (aka an inappropriate and WAY too early time). She wakes me up by telling me "Emma's so happy Mommy," because she thinks that if she's happy that means she gets to be downstairs (as opposed to grumpy and whiny when I send her to her bed.) She is a smart cookie, for real. (For the record, it doesn't work though....she goes right back to bed.)


Funny random things she's said recently:
-"Give me 2 minutes Daddy."
She told her Daddy this while he was trying to love on her after being gone for 3 days. Pray for us in about 10 years when we're entering the teen years....

-"Give me that Cols. Say 'yes Emma.'"
When I give Emma an instruction and she either doesn't respond or starts to whine/give an excuse/etc, I will redirect her with the expected response by saying "Say 'Yes Mommy." Clearly she hears me telling this to her 800 times a day and wanted to be the boss for once so she did it to her brother.

(p.s. I love that she calls him Cols. We have never called him that...she made it up herself.)

-This isn't really a funny thing but she speaks in the third person almost all the time. I'm not sure when she'll outgrow this, but it's pretty humorous.


Ok I need to go to bed. It's almost midnight and I don't think I've stayed up this late since college. I'll be paying for it in a few hours when someone creeps beside my bed trying to tell me how happy she is.

Things that make you say....huh?

Since we moved into this house 3 years ago, we've changed a lot of things. There isn't a single room in the entire house that hasn't seen some sort of change through wall paper removal, new paint, flooring, etc. It looks a million times better.

(*probably should clarify that this is just my personal opinion - nothing against the previous occupants, I just didn't share their vision for the place*)

(Let me just interrupt at this point to say that I just went back and reread through what I've written so far and noticed that I started the last sentence by saying "I looks a million times better." And that is a false statement. The house looks a million times better. I look 3 years older and 2 babies chubbier. :) ha)

Ok so back to the house...
We've updated and changed a lot of things, but there are still pa-lenty that we haven't touched yet. We've been busy (read: two babies in three years) and we've been living on a budget (read: no money for home improvement projects). Some of the things in this house just make me laugh and wonder "what were they thinking?" And I've been wanting to share them with you so we can laugh together. So here you go.

Things that make you say...huh?

1. We live in a really old farmhouse. But it has an addition (kitchen and dining room) that was built in the 90s. So the 90s weren't that long ago but somehow THIS was viewed as a good idea.

It's an accordian style door that you can pull out to close off the kitchen from the rest of house. Need a closer look? Because not only is it a weird idea (why would you need to close off the kitchen?) but it's also hideous. Like brassy, gold accordian ugliness.

Huh??

2. Then there's this little treasure on my countertop.

Not the Cuties. Pan right until you stumble across a built in metal thing. Huh?? 

From what I understand, those two little handle things come out and you could sit your blender right on those things and it would work. It hasn't worked since we've been here so I couldn't really tell you. And really...is it that hard to just plug the blender into the wall? 

3. What do you do when there's a crack in the ceiling?

How about...... SCOTCH TAPE! Let's zoom in for a closer look...

I mean, I'm honestly curious about this one. What is the purpose the scotch tape? I'm pretty sure it's not holding the ceiling together because, well, it's scotch tape....the baby of all kinds of tape. But just in case, we haven't taken it off because we wouldn't want the ceiling to fall down.

And to top it all off, I'll leave you with this little nugget to ponder..

Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?

Huh?? :)

Tiny Prints Christmas Cards!

You may remember that last year around this time, I shared about Shutterly and their 2010 line of Christmas Cards. They offered 50 free cards to anyone who blogged about their products. It was a huge blessing to get great cards for free! This year I am EVEN MORE excited because Tiny Prints is offering the same deal. We used Tiny Prints when we created Emma's birth announcement and their quality and cute-ness was unbelievable. I am SO excited to create our family Christmas card through them!

The past two years we've done more formal looking cards so this year I'm leaning more towards a fun, playful card - maybe with more than one picture. Here's a few options I'm thinking about...

Check them out for yourself. There are endless awesome options!

Now that we've celebrated Thanksgiving, I'm ready for all things Christmas - especially getting all of our friends' cards in the mail. For a few years I taped them all up on the fridge and that was really fun to see them all. (Actually I loved looking at them so much that I left them up all year. Some time around June Jarred asked when I was planning on taking them down! haha) This past year I kept them all in a basket on our kitchen counter. It was definitely a more organized option, but we didn't get to see them all the time. I've seen some cute clothespin wreath ideas on Pinterest too that might be fun. Do any of you have fun ways to display your cards?

Looking forward to seeing all of your cards!! :) 

Thankful Thoughts

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” Psalm 100:4-5 NIV

I really love Thanksgiving. In fact, I think it may be my favorite holiday. 

There's not a whole lot of commercialism hype (aside from the Black Friday craziness that tries to take over the week). It's just all about being thankful and.....when you combine that with comfort food - perfection! 

This year I'm thankful for:

a deepening, enjoyable relationship with Jesus, my husband who makes me laugh and our marriage that challenges me to grow and seek God's face, two healthy beautiful adorable children, the privilege of having a comfortable home, stocked freezers and full shelves, amazing friends, our church family, a stable job for Jarred to provide for us and the opportunity to be at home with my children.

Happy Thanksgiving Friends!

Big Girl

I was planning on starting "chores" with Emma around the time she turned three. I didn't really have a reason why I picked that age, but I guess I was just thinking that by that time she'd be old enough to do some simple things around the house. I also wanted to start pretty young so that she learns early on what we expect around the house.

For those of you who don't spend much time with my girl, she is incredibly compulsive and likes things to be clean and organized. So the other day as I started to unload the dishwasher and racked my brain for something to occupy her while I worked, I thought, I bet she would enjoy putting away the clean silverware! I'm not sure why I didn't think of it sooner! It was great for her to work on matching the different types of silverware and putting them in the correct spot.

I also gave her another "trim" aka cutting off that darn rat tail that continues to want to grow. Heaven help me...the poor girl has the absolute slowest growing hair except for that silly rat tail! Here's the before. Usually all of those wispy long strands come together into one rat tail curl right in the middle. I had spread them out for the sake of cutting it evenly.

and the after....

Can you even tell the difference? :) I actually think it looks pretty cute in this picture but I'm well aware that's probably just a mother's love. I know it's definitely still a mullet. Oh well....some day we'll have beautiful long locks. Maybe by 3rd grade....

Fun Day Trips

A few days ago, Jarred asked if we would be interested in going with him to Cabela's. He was meeting someone there who had a part for his truck and he didn't want to drive that far without his family. So yesterday afternoon, we packed up the kids and headed off. Emma was in amiyal (animal) heaven!

Colson enjoyed himself too.

We had a great time looking at all of the animals! If it wasn't such a drive, I think I'd bring the kids here all the time. They loved it!

I even embarrassed Jarred by asking somebody to take a picture for us. He'll appreciate it some day! :) And I was impressed all four of us are looking at the camera too!

Then we stopped at Red Robin for dinner before heading home. It was our first time at a restaurant with both kids. Colson was mesmerized by all the lights and action...

...and Daddy taught Emma some good tricks. :)

It was such a fun spontaneous trip! Jarred and I were able to have lots of time to talk on the drive and the kids had a blast!

Today my parents have relatives visiting so we joined them this morning on a quick trip to Wilbers Chocolate. Yum....

It's been so fun to get out and take the kids to new places. I'm thinking of starting a list of things to do and places to see to keep us busy this winter. I love being a homemaker, but sometimes these cold winter days can make us all a little stir crazy. Any fun suggestions?

Random :)

Colson turns 7 months old today! 

Thankfully, his croup has settled down and he just has a cold at this point. A cold isn't fun either, but it's definitely much better than croup!

Would you believe I JUST got around to putting out some Fall decorations? 

I just decorated the top of our TV cabinet because: A) I don't have a whole lot of Fall decor so this is about it. B) They won't be out long so I didn't want to put a whole lot out only to have to take it down soon. C) They kids can't reach anything up here.  We don't have a lot of Christmas/Winter decorations either but I'm hoping to make a few cute things I've seen on Pinterest. I'll keep you posted if I end up making anything!

Speaking of making things, our church is awesome and the women provide 3 meals a week for a month to families after they have a baby.  I can't tell you what a blessing that is! A sweet family in my bible study just adopted a baby and yesterday I was able to bring them a meal. Baked spaghetti, homemade crescent rolls, salad, pumpkin roll, and chocolate chip banana bread for breakfast the next day. 

Sick computers and kids

I have been trying to be a little more intentional about blogging more regularly, but I'm not sure how great my follow through is going to be on that ambition.

Our laptop is on it's last leg. No kidding - it's on its 10th life and it's reeeeeally struggling to stay alive. We've been talking about cleaning it up and selling it for parts and then getting something new. Hopefully it won't die on me before then because I really don't like blogging from my iPhone.

Both kiddos are sick and my sweet boy is having a tough time with it. Emma started with a raspy voice and loose cough and a few days later I could hear Colson's chest tightening up. He woke up this morning really struggling to breath and doing the stereotypical "croup cough." We did all of the at-home remedies (steamy bathroom, cool mist humidifier, lots of nursing and snuggles, etc) but he was still struggling mid-morning so we made the decision to take him in to the pediatrician. Of course (of course!) as I walked into the office he sounded perfectly fine. Isn't that always the case? But his noisy breathing and croup cough did come back while we were there and the doctor confirmed that he's got croup. Poor guy. It's definitely a scary illness for parents because it sounds so awful. But he's got a steroid in him and some tylenol for the fever so hopefully we're on the mend.

So if you don't hear from me for a few days...I'm probably just trying to revive our little old laptop or snuggling my little lovies. :)

Homemade Hot Pockets, Anyone?

When Jarred and I first got married, I was a silly naive girl. (seems as though not much has changed huh?) I knew his Momma was a great cook and she always had treats in the house. So I would go crazy in the grocery store because I wanted my hubby to think I was a cool wife. Anybody relating?

One of the things I used to buy him for lunch was hot pockets. Don't get me wrong, they are really good, but there's only like 2 or 4 in the pack. I forget how many it is exactly, but for my big hungry man...they only lasted about 3 hours. And paying big bucks for something that wasn't going to last wasn't reasonable. Sooo I quickly learned my lesson, surrendered my pride and started buying sensible things. And we all lived happily ever after because it turns out he thinks a budget conscious wife is a cool wife! :)

A few weeks ago I stumbled across a recipe for homemade hot  pockets on Pinterest, I knew he'd be game for giving them a try. So yesterday for lunch we gave them a try. Granted, it's a little more involved and time consuming then my usual leftovers or sandwiches but he loved them and they made TWELVE hot pockets. Enough for yesterday's lunch and we froze the rest for future lunches or dinners.

So basically, all you do is make the dough...

1 1/2 cups warm milk
1 teaspoon yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
4 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, combine warm milk with yeast and sugar. Let sit for five minutes. Add salt, vegetable oil, and egg. Stir in flour until the dough is stiff enough to knead. (Add flour a little at a time. Four cups flour is approximate; exact amount may vary. I ended up using about 4 1/2 cups) Knead dough until smooth and elastic–a few minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl; cover. Let rise until doubled.

Now it's time to start making those hot pockets! Divide the dough in half.

Note: this isn't rolled out yet. It needs to be MUCH flatter than this. I just got started rolling and then realized I wanted a dough picture. :)

Use a pizza cutter to divide the dough into 6 sections and add your desired filling ingredients. The sky is the limit (or perhaps your creativity is the limit). I did 6 ham and cheese and 6 pork bbq and cheese because that's what we had on hand. The website has lots of yummy suggestions.

Pull the dough up around the ingredients and pinch together to seal. It doesn't have to be pretty...

Flip them over and place them on a baking sheet. I put foil down because I'm all about not having to wash dishes after I'm done. 

Pop them in the oven and bake at 350F for 25 minutes. In the meantime, distract yourselves with cute children.

Let them cool on a wire cookie rack and resist the urge to eat them right away. The roof of my mouth sends a warning your way....premature indulgence isn't worth it. Ouch...

I wanted to have a shot of one opened up so you could see the cooked, yummy, cheesy, melty goodness but we ate them up too fast and didn't stop to think of picture taking. Enjoy!! (Original recipe link here)

Anybody else have trouble coming up with witty, fitting blog post titles?

I love love love the TV series Parenthood. But seriously? Could they cut a tired momma a break and air a liiiittle bit earlier. Staying up until 10pm to watch an hour long show is TOUGH. It's 9:30pm and I'm popping chocolate chips and writing a blog post to pass the time until it comes on.

So....it's been awhile! :) how are you guys?

We've been....well I don't know how to sum it up in one word. Living, I guess?

Emma had her first real fever this past week. I know, I know...the girl is 2 but no lie, she's never had a fever over 99F. She spiked a relatively high fever Thursday evening and she stayed feverish through Friday. On a hunch, I finally checked her mouth and discovered she's cutting a big ol' molar. The fever went away and now she's coming down with some sort of cold. My poor girl has a rattly chest and I'm praying for speedy healing.

I've been baking a lot recently. I should really try to post a few recipes for you guys. Homemade crescent rolls are a BIG hit around here and they really are super easy. This was my first attempt and I didn't roll the dough flat enough so I ended up with mega rolls. They looked so funny, I had to take a picture. Seriously you guys? Delicious just doesn't do it justice.....

Colson experienced snow for the first time in his sweet little life. I told Jarred (my real-life Ebenezer who doesn't allow Christmas in this house before Dec. 15th) that he should count his blessings that we don't live in an area where snow in October is the norm. That freak snow storm tempted to send me right into full on Christmas mode. I was ready for the music, decorating and thinking of gift ideas! :)

Isn't he so sweet? Every day with him is such a blessing. He is such an easy, content little guy. Emma has come a long way with the snow. Here she was last year....

Not loving snow so much....

and....this year!

She threw snowballs with Daddy and her cousin and they built a snowman. She only came in because her little hands were frozen!

Jarred's been working long and hard as usual. In his "spare time" he's been fixing up an old old Jeep that the family uses up at the cabin. (It's fondly referred to as "Jasper") This thing is so beloved in this family. Seriously, I'm not kidding when I say engagement pictures have been taken with Jasper. ha. So today while the weather was gorgeous, I snapped a few pictures of the kids enjoying Jasper. 

Told ya it was old! :) No door and all! The first time I rode in this thing, we hopped in our seats and a mouse jumped out of the dashboard at us. haha

Well, it's almost 10pm and I'm out of pictures and updates so that's all for tonight. I'll try to pop back in sooner rather than later. 

And on a totally unrelated note - I've been watching the Duggars in the background and wow, 20? I can't even imagine! All I know is that the Lord definitely gives abundant grace to what He calls us to! 

Sleep and Snuggles

When Emma was a baby, she totally spoiled me when it came to sleeping. Starting at 6 weeks, the girl started sleeping around 5-6 hour stretches and it just continued to get longer until she settled into the pattern of 8pm bedtime and 6am wake up. Like clockwork. She also was a piece of cake to put down for naps. Somewhere around 4 months, I would notice her giving off sleepy hints, I'd lay her down in her crib and she went to sleep. She pretty quickly settled into a daytime nap routine. She must have gotten the memo that I am spoiled.

Colson, on the other hand, would really like to be in his momma's arms to fall asleep. We kinda like each other, me and my boy.

photo credit: Captured Moments by Ellen

I can't say really mind...I love snuggling him. And maybe it's a second baby thing, but I feel like I'm a little more apt to throw caution to the wind and just soak up my baby cuddles while I can. I know how fast that little guy is going to turn into an independent toddler, a gangly little boy, and before I know it, he'll be a teenager who cringes at the thought of even hugging his old Mom. It's a phase, just like potty training or Elmo watching or whiny two year olds, and I know it'll pass. So why not enjoy it since it does happen to be a nice phase...kind of.

At the same time, it's not realistic for me to hold him every single time he needs to go to sleep. So we are working at teaching him to self-soothe. He has this pattern...

I know he's tired. I take him up for his nap, let him cry it out, and he'll eventually fall asleep. One would think that that was a successful sleep training attempt. However.....20 minutes later, I hear his cries coming through the monitor. I go up to get him and 98% of the time, he's right back asleep in my arms on the couch two minutes later because he's still tired! This has happened countless times.

I know what I need to do. It's painfully obvious even as I write this. 

Have whoever sent Emma that "Momma is spoiled memo" send one to Colson as well.

I kid.

Don't pick him up when he wakes up after 20 minutes when you KNOW that wasn't a long enough nap.

He's six months old today. It's probably time to get serious about working on a consistent routine. Isn't it amazing how each kid is so different? Emma found a consistent routine on her own, but it seems like Colson may need a little help settling into one. 

What worked for you girls? For your kiddos who weren't super easy sleepers on their own, when did you start working on routines and sleep training? How did you resist those big tears longing for Momma to pick him up? :)

Momma Grows Too

Can I let you guys in on an embarrassing/funny joke in our family? When Jarred went to ask my father's blessing to marry me, my Dad responded with the statement, "From us, it's an absolutely." (aww thanks Dad!) But that's not all he said. He also felt compelled to share with my future husband that I am spoiled.  (WHAT!??!? DAD!!! haha I can't believe he told him that!)

Now before you think awful thoughts about me or my dad, let me fill in the gaps of the story. I grew up in what I would call an upper middle class family. We definitely weren't rich or live in any kind of mansion...just a typical 4 bedroom, nice neighborhood kind of place. But we also didn't want for anything really. College was paid for. Homecoming/prom dresses were paid for without a second thought. We always had back to school clothes and new backpacks and money to go to the movies.  There was never a time (that I can remember) when we were told, I'm sorry...there just isn't money for that. Now if we wanted to go buy $500 designer jeans, we would have gotten a no but for the most part, if we needed something, it was provided. It wasn't that we were brats about it and whined and kicked to get our way. It was just that when we needed something, we were able to get it. (again, within reason of course)

 When my Dad told Jarred that I was spoiled, he meant that statement in a humble, I-maybe-did-wrong- kind of attitude. He was trying to share with my husband that the lifestyle I grew up in is pretty different from the lifestyle I was about to enter. My dad recognized that although we weren't going to be living on the streets, newlyweds aren't exactly living high on the hog either...especially farmers and that was going to be a change for me. My dad shared that he wondered if maybe they (my parents) were wrong in just providing for our every want/need rather than teaching us how to work for things and budget and say no to things. Does that make sense? I tend to think they were a little wrong (not on purpose) but that's not the point of this post....

In some ways, our new lifestyle was/is fun and an adventure. I enjoy making a budget and trying to find deals and get excited over great consignment store finds for the kids. I'm proud that we took the Financial Peace University class and are working toward paying off all of our debts and living financially responsible. On the other hand, it has NOT been an easy adjustment for me. There have been times when I have come before the Lord and asked WHY God? It'd be one thing if we had to sacrifice going out to eat and shopping sprees and all those "extras." But it's hard when you panic that you are running low on dish detergent and paper towels and you didn't budget for those things this month. That's not a fun feeling! (and yes, we realize that it was our decision to have me stay home rather than continue working and bringing in another salary....I don't regret that decision, nor would we change it.)

Although I'm still not totally on board with the whole coupon craze, I've been working on couponing for our household needs (toilet paper, toothpaste, that kind of thing) and we try to cut costs by shopping at consignment stores and getting our groceries at Aldi. I've shared before about how awesome Aldi's prices are. What I didn't share was that some weeks I would really struggle with shopping there. I wished I could just go to a normal grocery store and have lots of name brand options for everything and not think twice about it or feel guilty. Sometimes I just missed getting normal goldfish crackers for my girl or real Turkey Hill ice cream for a dessert. I guess I had an ugly root of bitterness in my heart. My dad was right....I had been spoiled and it took marriage and a new lifestyle for me to really see that.

But two days ago, as I loaded the kids and my groceries into our van and drove away from Aldi, I didn't feel bitter or jealous of others or anything. I felt proud of my $42 grocery bill and content with what I had. I've slowly gotten used to my new reality and God has done a work in my heart to chip away those ugly roots of jealousy, entitlement, and bitterness. I'm sure He's far from done working on those things in my heart, but I just wanted to testify to His goodness and what He's doing in me. Just like Colson is growing in weight and developmental skills, this Momma is slowly growing in spiritual maturity and understanding.

I'm so thankful He's patient with this spoiled girl and faithful to pursue a pure and spotless heart in me, aren't you?

Growing

I haven't done regular updates on here about my little guy. Colson is growing up so fast. I can barely believe he's going to be 6 months old next week. Where did the past half year go? 

I'm cheap and totally not willing to pay for the "premium" Picnik version so I could only do a collage with 4 pictures so here he is in the 4 most recent month shots. Is it just me or did he explode between months 2 and 3? I think his "aw shucks" face doesn't help because it gave him 85 chins, but he definitely grew A TON that month! 

A bit about Colson at (almost) 6 months...

-He wears 6-9m or 6-12m clothes and size 3 diapers.

-He goes to bed around 7pm, sleeps until 4 or 5am, eats, and goes back to bed for another 2-3 hours. I'm undecided if he really needs to get up and eat that one time in the night but I'm not really doing much about it. I guess I feel like it's been 8 hours or so since he last ate so that's technically sleeping "through the night." I also feel really badly letting him cry it out when I have a 2 year old in the room directly across the hall, a husband who doesn't get enough sleep as it is, and my sister-in-law right next door. I wouldn't want to wake all of them up for the sake of "sleep training" when I'm not sure he needs it. I did let him cry it out once last week when he got up an hour after he ate. I knew he wasn't hungry, sick or poopy so he had to work it out.

-He started sitting up on his own around 5 1/2 months.

-We started solid foods also around 5 1/2 months and he is not a fan. We've only done cereal, sweet potatoes, peas and bananas. Bananas give him the shivers and he's impartial to the others. But I can't get the kid to open his mouth. Seriously, he puts everything in his mouth these days but when I come near him with a spoon, he clamps it shut. Any suggestions?

-He is a smiley, happy, content baby. His dimples kill me.

And for fun...

Here is a side by side of Emma and him at about the same age. I only took his "5 month" pictures a few days ago....and he's almost 6 months. So, I picked out one of her 6 months shots.

What do you think? I don't think they look much alike at all! He definitely has more hair that's for sure! :)

iPhone Dump

After years of putting up with having no cell phone service in our house, tons of dropped calls, and old outdated phones, Jarred and I finally made the switch from old cell phone company who shall remain nameless (*Beep Beep*) to AT&T and joined the rest of the 21st century in getting Smart Phones.

hmmm was that a run-on sentence or what?


Anyway, we got this amazing deal online where we got refurbished iPhone 3g's for $9 and they waived all of our activation fees. So for $18 we switched phone companies and got iPhones. Can't beat that. We've been loving them and can't remember how we survived before them. :) Isn't that the case with most things in life? I've got a bunch of pictures on there and thought it was about time I shared them. (Some of them may be repeats if you follow me on Instagram...sorry)

These first two are a perfect picture of who my girl is. She's everything girly and everything tom boy all wrapped up into one. Southern belle and athlete. (if you look close you'll even notice these were taken on the same day...she's got the same outfit on) I'm not lying when I tell you she'll prance around the house dancing and then ask to go ride four-wheeler with Daddy.

This little guy melts my heart. I can't remember if I ever shared some of my anxieties about having a boy on here, but to be truthful, I was definitely apprehensive. How could I not fall in love with this happy boy?

And these two? Lord have mercy. Emma and her buddy B just taking a walk around the farm, holding hands like it's no big deal. :) Young love.... haha

This was our front yard a few weeks ago when we had 5346569789 inches of rain.

Colson's first swing experience...

...and the "new" swing set we got this week!

Grocery shopping. Emma loves sitting down there and it's a perfect little spot for her. 

Happy Wednesday!! :)