oh baby

wow. my little dude is growing up so fast, sometimes i sneak on outfits that i shouldn't. here's an example right here. he looks so cute crawling up the stairs in this lil' outfit. we were airing out his body during the rash thing earlier this week. soooo cute. i think that it was the last time for that baby, though. he didn't wear it much, but i still liked it even though normally i'm not really a big fan of that kind of stuff on him.

things are good. supposedly there will be a huuuuge snow storm that will be quite rough on the area tomorrow. we'll see! :)

cold here…

how about where you reading this? i feel kind of bad because it really is pretty cold especially in the little man's room. our consensus of the rash is that it was a heat one, so we've been dressing him sparingly and not turning on the space heater. that baby is ON today for the nap (if he falls asleep, that is). it is totally gone now, and i'm super thankful at that provision. i was afraid to take him anywhere at all. you know?

i just had a delicious cup of hot chocolate to warm my innards, and plan on making my lunch after i finish this post. :)

a couple weeks ago, i started a Bible study with a group of women that is based off of materials from Beth Moore's study "Jesus the One and Only" and it is wicked cool. i've done a previous study by her, but it was only with one other person and i look forward to having a bunch of women discuss what we've been learning over the past week. we recap what we've learned with a video section at the end of the chapter where we watch beth moore get super excited about the Word. it's crazy b/c i'm pretty low-key and i just sort of take the text and grasp it and say *yep, it's truth, and i love it.* whereas she embraces it by seeing it come to life and brings it to life for me. i don't know how i missed it in my prior study with her- it may have had something to do with being in college and taking for granted *all* the people who surrounded me with goodness. in the point of my life right now, i often feel alone. my husband is gone at work all day (praise God for that gift), and attends grad school for a couple nights a week. my little one isn't much of a conversationalist yet, and i doubt he'll fuel my needs in that way for a long time to come. my friends here are good, but i am finding that i am the pursuer, and it's wearing on me (slowly). learning about Jesus and all that He fulfills has really been helping me a lot (even though my eyes are slightly welling at the previous sentence). i'm really thankful for the study, though at this point i'm having a couple aww bummer things: the leader speaks super duper quiet and i can barely hear her, and the group of women who are a part of this study are basically my mom's age and older (besides two women). i am thankful for the people God has chosen to walk through this study with me, but i long for a bit more in the same age-group with some friends as a result. something that i've been quietly, and reluctantly praying about because i feel so selfish for wanting it.

there's a little bit about *me* and not just the kid. i can't wait to see who i am on the other side of this study. one thing for sure is that i'll be a mother of two, and not just one! :) (yikes!)

PTL

the rash thing is almost gone. oh thank goodness. it was totally not cool and so sad.

we're not getting a new microwave…

but we bought the little man a bed! it will also be for guests. i don't think that i'll trust him in it for a while since it is a full size, and he is still very crib worthy of a boy, but- hey, we'll give it a shot. maybe we'll buy a tent to keep him in there? :)

1/2 way done decorating his room. actually- no decorating done, but the furniture is there, so that's good! maybe i'll show some pictures if they turn out well. maybe

no itchy...

but still a gross rash anyway. that's what i can say about my little cutie. he isn't looking super cute right now, but was cuter than yesterday. i don't know how anyone can handle a bunch of little bumps all over their precious skin and be so happy! although some whining did happen (not uncommon these days with the weird nap thing), it was a good thing he was happy.

yesterday i went to a scrapping event, with the husband's work-people. it was fun! i'm amazed at some of the ideas that come from these people. i think that they thought my creation was a little bit *strange* but i'm happy with it, and plan on making two. :) i told them it was for the husband, but i couldn't help but share it- so now it has a new destination. :)

i hope those of you with kiddos out there have healthy ones, and are enjoying the weather a bit! i took my little man out on friday and froze him to pieces. he's super patient with me, but i think that even when i go in and out of shops for an hour and a half, it's just too cold here to be doing that! (i bundled him well, but i need some sweet snow boots for him!) i bought some crazy awesome shoes for the lil' guy, and i'm surprised that the husband is game. he's a traditionalist when it comes to clothing for my lil' man (though i have gotten away with some sketchy stuff!)

happy JESUS day (as we call it in the adventureland area in our church!)

books.

two posts today. couldn't help it.

got an Email today with the top 10 2007 most-read fiction books from Goodreads.

i was shocked at how many i've read (not all in 2007- obviously):

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- can this series be over? i loved it.
2. The Kite Runner- i have been wondering if i should read this. i'm interested- and now there's a movie w/ the same title, yes?
3. A Thousand Splendid Suns never heard of it
4. To Kill a Mockingbird- h.s. read. loved it
5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone- what a surprise to read summer of 2000. love my parents for slipping it into my bag for a cruise i went on.
6. The Catcher in the Rye- h.s. read- liked it
7. Middlesex- never heard of it.
8. The Da Vinci Code- this was top 10 in 2007? i feel like it is sooo over. the movie stunk. the book was good writing, but please... if you believe any of it is true- lets talk, k?
9. Water for Elephants- read it a couple months back. good read- some stuff that sort of threw me off the train track with some racy content. it's worth the read, and easy
10. The Great Gatsby- h.s. read. thank goodness i had my teacher walking us through it. i doubt i would have enjoyed it as much as i did b/c she really opened my eyes to smart writing. i would have just been like- ok- next?

and that's it. jane eyre is going well. so far- i've been right in my assumptions mentioned in a previous post. they are to be married. we'll see if it goes through. you're not married till... you're married! (duh)

good or bad?

that is the question that comes to mind with the latest lunch i fed the kid. here's the scenario. i give him some crackers, cheese bits, mango, and some *corn* puffs. he usually likes all of these things, but eats a bit of all of them and begins to push things around the try. during this time of him deliberating eating the food the Lord provided him, i had realized the rejection of cubed mango and decided to puree them with some blueberries i'll have left over after i make a recipe (bonus points to me for being resourceful, in my opinion!). i give a bit to the lil' man and wow! he loves it. i look at the stuff on the tray before him and i... and figure, hmm... it couldn't hurt (and the husband and i have joked about this several times).

here's the step-by-step!


step one: scoop all that was on tray into bowl used for mango/blueberry goodness.


step two: blend (i added some trusty yogurt to make it so it wouldn't be only grains).


step three: feed the kid the food. seriously- this is right after i fed him. now- he ate it all, wondered if there was more (?!) and i chuckled because i really thought he would look at me like i was nuts giving him this. he saw the whole process from his chair- and he's smart. i really think he doesn't like to chew his food. i am blessed with a non-chewing kid. hopefully the Lord will give me the patience to keep working with him and improving his eating skills. wow.

thank goodness for the magic bullet.

and yes, i plan on giving my kid some veggies *sometime* today. seriously. do not worry about the variety. this was a weird *we're running out of food* lunch attempt.

*sidenote* i broke the microwave (well, sort of). i wonder if the man will want a new one? i could care less, but a chipped turntable (glass, obviously) could be dangerous. that, and he's mentioned how he would like a new one, but aren't all microwaves pretty much the same?

things to come?

i'm hoping that this is a sign of things to come. a reader at heart? this kid is obsessed with playing with books. it's cute, but reading the same book over and over is actually kind of showing me that i have about the same attention span as my little dude. i am even praying that the Lord will teach me patience in this sport and wisdom to show owen that when we start a book, how about we finish it instead of grabbing the next one that you see? we rotate the books about every 1 to 2 weeks for variety, but i'm learning pretty much all of them by heart. this is actually extremely rare for me because i never remember things beyond a few days. too bad it is *a to z* or *i love my family* instead of scripture. at least i'm challenging my brain enough to encourage myself that i can do this! definitely a muscle to be trained, for sure.

i have a kiddo with boogies (will this cold season ever END?!) so i'm hoping that i'll be let into my beth moore study today- but if not, maybe i'll be able to borrow the video from the teacher or something. the study is going well, and i'm happy to be a part of something that has added some serious structure to my life. the study i'm doing is *jesus the one and only* and week one passed with me being able to reflect and answer all of the questions full heartedly (maybe minus one). i have a tendency to sit there with a blank on my face (and mind) when it comes to super introspective questions. i am not one who is skilled at looking inward, and observing my life (let alone others!). i tend to be in the moment, which has its pros and cons like anything else. eh?

have a happy wednesday.

growl

so teaching my child what a tiger says has had some interesting impact in our lives. first of all, it is what every animal says now. before, we could ask what a dog or a cow says, and he would respond accurately fairly regularly. now, it's all what a tiger/lion says. he received this polar bear that growls, (or maybe breathes weird) and he loves it to pieces. i seriously thought that he was going to cry when he heard it, but he always says *ooooo* when i hold it up (something he proudly picked up from me).

craziness. soooo- if he growls in your earshot, know that he's not necessarily primitive, but definitely exploring the tiger sound. :)


we put this little doggie on his head frequently, so now he does it to himself. it is so cute and precious! what fun to be had.

no tag backs!

tagged by knittingma to a book-blog-thing. i am always trying to read something, which is crazy because the kiddo takes up a lot of day time, and freelance takes up a lot of the nap and night time. i'm reading two books right now, but one is totally sucking me in more than the other (sorry jane austen!). i rarely read books over and over again, but i have started a couple of books in the past two years thinking it was new to me and then realized after about 2-5 chapters that i have read it. i don't have time to re-read books i've read. the world has so many to offer!

ah, yes- the book i'm reading is "jane eyre" by charlotte brontë, i guess i should have mentioned that a bit earlier. i like this cover better than my cover (but my little man gets a kick of laughing at mine).

per tag request, i am to turn to page 161 of the book (i haven't read this far yet! ak!), and read the 5th sentence. Here we go:
"And will you consent to dispenses with a great many conventional forms and phrases, without thinking that the omission arises from insolence?"

i am curious about this sentence since i'm about 30 pages off from getting to this point, but i'm excited to read more about what is going on. my assumption is that jane is meeting the owner of the house, and is going to be having a discussion. will they fall in love? i have high doubts, but what i read last night made me think "you need a man, girl!"

as knittingma has done, i guess i'll also list some of my favorite books:

• A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway
• Cold Sassy Tree, by Olive Ann Burns
• To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
• The Chronicles of Narnia Series, by C.S. Lewis
• The Harry Potter Series, by J.K. Rowling
• Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
• Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden *edited to add in- great read*

the first three are books i read in high school and loved it because my teacher was amazing at teaching us about what the book was telling us on the surface and also digging deep. i kind of hated her for it, but it obviously worked because i remember loving these books and would love to be a part of something that would discuss books this way (or more like tell me all the foreshadowing and underlining concepts). i guess that is what book clubs are for, but i guess i will wait till i have a normal schedule before finding one of those (do normal schedules exist after kids? normal = one where you own it and decide what you're doing that evening).


i'm now supposed to tag five people. but i'm not really sure who reads this blog, so i'm going to pass. feel free to feel like i tagged you. obviously, i'm not competitive (except, i will tag someone if we're running around so i can take a break in the free-zone!)

suck that

about a week before baby #1 was born, we decided to buy a new vacuum because we HATED bagless vacuums. we loved the hoover we owned before and decided to bust out the bank money and buy one that is bagged. the carpet dust weapon of choice ended up being "Tempo Widepath Bagged Upright Vacuum" and it has been awesome. I don't vacuum a LOT, but i changed the bag for the FIRST time today. yeah. and i didn't have to vacuum up the area around the canister after pulling out the bag. so yes, shameless advertising for a vacuum- hasn't lost suction at ALL in this time (or at least that i have noticed) and we bought it from amazon.

buy one already if you have a bagless and really don't like it (i don't know if it works with super dog hair or someone who has OCD... but it TOTALLY works for us).

in love

with these two people. i love the big one because i chose to several years back. he's such a huge blessing to me and is definitely a gift from God. he is perfect for me even when i think he is a stinker and i wonder why God gave him to me. i love the little one because God chose him for me. to refine my character, show me the hugest ways that i need God even more than i ever thought. to show me what it is to love without expecting anything back, because people, babies don't know that you want love back from them, too.

i am blessed, and thankful.

owie

last week, the little man got a bad paper cut and bled all over one of his books (until i saw what was bleeding, i was totally freaking out, first paper cut moment). this resulted in my grand idea of placing a band-aid on his finger. his pop bought some *tattoo* ones with little *incredible* characters on them, so i thought these would be perfect (even though he's never watched a movie in his life- let alone this one). talk about a total melt down! owen started to act like he had a broken finger and kept trying to take the band-aid off his finger. above, you'll see the test to see if he can still pick things up. the answer was yes, but he didn't like it one bit.

give you a couple years kid, and you'll be begging me to give you a band-aid. i know it.

little kid…

would you ever suspect that eating is really such a challenge with this kid? he looks so happy! ever since we've been back from my parents, eating has been sort of the worst part of the day (2nd to nap time that is beginning to be non-existent). some milestones in the past week:
• holding the cup on his own
• eating with a spoon (with a little bit of help)
• eating fruit again with his hands (he choked a bit- and threw the one in his hand on the floor- so the feud may be back on. i keep telling the kid to use his MANY teeth and chew- but i think that i still sometimes sound like an adult on the charlie brown show)

i'm pretty proud of him. next step- walking. it could be happening any time now (maybe). he's been experimenting a lot with standing lately, so that's a sure sign.


holy snow-man! there was a lot of snow after the new year. yeah. i'm not kidding. seriously. here's a glimpse of the beauty. owen was not super excited about being in the snow- but there was no crying so that's cool. i think that he is cool with touching it, but would benefit from being able to walk and move. the boots i had him in sort of limited that aspect, and for some reason when we put that coat on him, he sort of becomes a lazy bum and doesn't move. think it might be a bit heavy for him? possibly. at least it keeps him warm.


here's the little man with his pops. a brief introduction to the snow. :) (yummy!)

happy 2008!

a photo of a part of the festivities during our party we had for new years. we tried to use sparklers and create the numbers 2008. i say it went fairly well. :)




a glimpse of some of the handmade Christmas cards i made. with a little bit of the dude. i didn't have enough cards on hand, so i had to make some! next year, i'll just have to make them, which will be easier- i think! we've had several come back. people- if you move, you need to let me know!

hope you all are well. i have been all over ohio and michigan the last few weeks, which is why i haven't written in forever. i'll get back to it more regularly, i promise. (maybe)