Friday, March 25, 2011

EEEeeeeeeee (the shrillest sound you can scream)<---- Reid

You read it right, my baby has now learned how to scream to entertain himself. . . It is true :(  In fact he is doing it right now to keep himself from going to sleep for his afternnon nap.  I hate it when he does this and gets so off schedule.  Speaking of some of the "not so glamorous" things about motherhood, I am STILL finding new stretchmarks!  SERIOUSLY?!?  If you were to go back and read all of my little weekly pregnancy update things, when it came to stretch marks I always said "No, not yet, and I am so very thankful."  And seriously when my belly was big I HONESTLY didn't see ANY.  However, now almost 6 months post partum, they are deciding to show up.  It is incredibly gross, and makes me even more self concious than I already was about my midsection.  Not that anyone would ever see it, but I just remember what it used to look like and now that it definitely DOES NOT look that way anymore it makes me extrememly sad.  I hope to rememedy the extra skin/pounds issue that are still deciding to stay around with a hardcore work out regimine of Zumba, running, biking, and Ab Ripper. . . We shall see.

Enough with this debbie downer stuff though. . . I am actually currently in California.  Some wonderful friends arranged to have us come out here and visit them.  Matt and Sarah (whose blog you can read here ) are some friends from college who started dating around the time we did/ got engaged about the same time/ got married a month apart from each other.  We have had some good times with these crazy kids and are so happy to be here enjoying sunny Cali, except for the fact that Cali is COLD!!  Boo for that, but they are making it worth our while anyway, like tonight we are going down to the Santa Monica pier (apparently every pier scene you know of in a movie is shot there) to celebrate our 3 years of marriage!  It is going to be great.  I am going to take a lot of pictures, but it will be with my point and shoot so they may not turn out as good as usual.  Reid came with us and has been doing beautifully.  Since we are only here four days I decided to keep him on a Texas time schedule (Cali is two hours behind us) and he has been handling it very well.  The plane ride didn't even bother him.  I knew he was a good little traveler, but this just sealed the deal.  Which btw, if any of you new moms out there are thinking that flying with a little one and getting through an airport will be pure torture, I am here to tell you it is NOT.  The airport people are so nice!  You get moved to the very front of lines and flight attendants hold your dirty son as you prepare to change the biggest poop of his life in a TINY bathroom, I mean it is great!  So yeah, if you're thinking of taking a trip on an airplane, just do it! 

Well that is about it for right now. . . I guess I better go and make sure I am ready to head out the door when everyone else is.  This country girl is about to head out on the town!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

A God Who Speaks

Isn't God just amazing?  I mean literally just wonderful.  He loves us all so much and cares about us in such intricate ways and on a personal level.  Example A, He speaks to each person differently according to what is going on in their life right now.  I know, I know, this is not an eye-opening statement, most people who follow Jesus know this, but stop for a second and take the time to think about it.  I mean honestly think about the fact that God deals with me according to what is happening in my own little world (which is the smallest it has ever been in terms of size or what I do since I stay home, but the most full it has ever been because, well, I stay home), and yet with someone else, even someone who is essentially at the same place in life, He is talking to about something totally different.

 Ok so I am going to take the long way around to get to the point, just stay with me for a paragraph or two and hopefully it will all connect.  Here we go; I love reading blogs, especially from people I know/have met/ have a relationship with.  I have some great personal friends with wonderful blogs.  Take for instance my friend Jen, who has lost MANY pounds using weight watchers and has not only one blog, but two.  One for her personal life (found here), and another to chronicle her journey as well as give out helpful hints and other goodies (found here). Her blogs are so uplifting, and she is so spirit led, I am always challenged to listen to God and spend time in prayer more after reading her blog(s).

There is another blog I read written by my friend Meagan.  Meagan and I went to college together, then ended up in the same sunday school class (along with Jen) for a season, then had babies around the same time (both boys), and have become stay at home moms.  Needless to say our lives have started looking somewhat more alike then probably both of us ever thought they would.  She is a blogger, a great writer and when she blogs I am so excited to read what she has to say.  You can find her blog here (and I strongly suggest you do, good stuff), and read about what God has been teaching her lately.

This long intro brings me to this point.  Although Meagan and I are pretty much going through the same experience in life, God is using this time to teach us things that are different and uniquely ours.  For Meagan it is being vulnerable and real with people (strange because I have been dealing with this myself lately, but she lays it out perfectly), while for me God has really been speaking on being diligent.

Diligence is a word I never really would have thought about had I not been at this place in life right now.  I have always been a hard worker, and self motivated if I were doing something for someone or some other cause (such as sports, for a team/coach).  However, when it comes down to me just being my own motivation I am really not so good.  My ADD (literally, really have it people, not just saying it) kicks in and I start on one task, yet don't finish it before I move onto something else (hence the last sentence in this paragraph that I didn't finish writing before I wend to put in the links to Jen's blogs), or I focus only on one task and neglect other things (hence the writing of this blog entry when I have a half unloaded dishwasher).  This is where I fear I am failing and I do not want to pass this along to Reid.  So God has really been speaking to my heart lately on being diligent, staying until I get not one job done, but many jobs done.

I have been granted the gift of time by staying home, time I must use to make my house a home, time that I have to do things that HAVE to be done and not be dog tired doing them at the end of the day after working for 8 hours.  However, this gift of time can (and often does) turn into idleness on my part.  Time that I spend looking at facebook, reading, or watching T.V.  Don't get me wrong none of these things are bad, but when my house is neglected more than it receives attention then it becomes a problem.  It is easy to fall into the trap of idleness and not even know, and then not want to get up out of it.  However, it is something I must do.

So here is my experiment, a week of diligence, where I go to bed feeling good that I have accomplished many tasks around the house, not just managed it kinda clean it and get a little bit of supper on the table.  A week spent with my time going to more than just me and what I want to do, but to my family and what is best for them.  We will see how this goes.

Isn't it wonderful that God is a purposeful, diligent, God who we are completely vulnerable to, who sees every part of us.  Thank you Jesus for speaking to me, about me.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Projects

Now I am not a very creative girl, I have always wanted to be/envied those people who are.  Alas, this was not the be my adventure in life. . . What I am though is a rule follower, I can follow a set of instructions like nobody's business.  This is part of the reason why creativity is hard for me, and why I think I have come to like baking.  Hence this post.  The first project I undertook was putting together Reid's bookshelf he got from Mark's parents (Nana and Pops) for Christmas.


Here are all the parts and instructions

How it should look at the end lol

What the baby looks like at the beginnin

The instructions

hope it all works out alright

About halfway through this is what he was looking like

The finished product!  Tada!

The end, not a happy boy!