The Little Family

Wishes

2012-02-07T17:03:00.000-05:00

I find myself reading other people's blogs and wishing I was more like them.
I wish I was as passionate about that subject
or
I wish I wrote as eloquently as they do
or
I wish I had thought to write about that
or
I wish I was funnier
or
I wish I was more talented
or
I wish my life was more together
or
I wish I was as good a mom as she is.
Sometimes I could wish my life away! But the fact of the matter is that I don't need to wish for so much. I have so much.

Maybe I didn't record every little detail of being pregnant, but I can remember lying in bed in the quiet of the early morning and feeling that little baby move around inside me. I talked to that baby and my love grew.

Maybe I don't have the cleanest house, but my son knows that I love him because I play with him.

Maybe I don't have the most exciting life where I make tons of money and travel to exotic lands, but I think it's pretty exciting to see two little people change and grow right in front of my very own eyes. To have a husband who comes home to me each and every night. To know that I'm loved by all three of those special people in my life.

Maybe my husband and I are pretty boring, but when I look in his eyes, I see his love and passion for me.

Sometimes I wish I was different. But most days I'm thankful that God made me who I am.

Deuteronomy 2:7
"For the LORD your God has blessed you in everything you have done. He has watched your every step through this great wilderness. During these forty years, the LORD your God has been with you, and you have lacked nothing.”

Tummy time

2012-02-06T17:29:00.000-05:00

Amelia Jayne LOVES tummy time! Now that she's rolling over both ways, she likes it even more. It's amazing to me that she's already rolling over - she started going from back to tummy on Saturday. She's been working so hard to roll and all that hard work has paid off! Look out, world - she'll be mobile in no time :)

One of her favorite places

"Take a picture of me!"

She's always captivated by her big brother :)

His fake smile cracks me up!

They love each other :)

Already drooling like crazy!

I love you, too, Amelia Jayne

Stare down

2012-02-03T11:30:00.000-05:00

Xander at 2 months staring down the duck.

Amelia Jayne at 3 months staring down the owl.

Potty time

2012-02-03T11:03:00.000-05:00

We're still working on the whole potty training thing. I had hoped we'd be finished with the harder parts by now, but it's slow going. Xander does a really great job using the potty - when we ask him to go. He won't tell us when he needs to go, so if we don't ask, there's always an accident. He's still in pull-ups for this very reason. And on occasion it's a fight to even get him in the bathroom. He just doesn't want to stop what he's doing to go. He's worn big boy underwear a few times and hasn't had a pee pee accident yet. Poop is another story. He has done #2 many times in the potty, and he gets a special star cookie if he does, but recently I think he's deliberately not going #2 so that he can go in his pull-up when I'm not looking. Sigh. It'll happen eventually.

He can actually do everything he needs to do by himself except pump the soap. He goes in the bathroom, pulls down his own pants, pees (standing up since he wants to be like daddy :)), wipes the seat, closes the lid, flushes, pulls his own pants back up (somewhat correctly), climbs on the stool, turns on the water, then calls for me to pump the soap. I'm fairly impressed with this, anyway! Baby steps. :)

I decided to make a potty chart to get him more excited about telling me he needs to go. It definitely worked the first day - hasn't been as interesting since, but we're still working on it. :)

About AJ - Three months

2012-02-03T10:54:00.000-05:00

Amelia Jayne turned 3 months old on January 24th. One day later she rolled over. Twice! I was so shocked! She was too :). She did it again almost instantly. David got his phone to video it, but she decided it wasn't happening again. Most of the video is of Xander trying to jump on everyone, screaming loudly amidst commands of "Take a picture of me!" which resulted in me getting out my phone to film him ~~screaming~~ playing.

No doctor's visit this month. We'll have her next one at 4 months. She's still a very happy baby! She sleeps about 7-10 hours per night, eats well and is growing so much! Her favorite thing to do is watch her big brother. She'll follow him around the room as he dances around doing his silly antics. She also loves to talk, cooing and squealing at anyone who will pay attention. :)

She loves for me to wear her in the "sleepy wrap," appropriately named since she sleeps there a lot. It makes life so much easier when I still have both my hands! I can do more with Xander and get things done around the house without feeling guilty about not spending time with my sweet baby. Time is precious these days and I want to soak up each moment of her babyhood! I know it will be over too quickly. I have an almost 3-year-old little boy to prove it!

She would not smile for her 3-month pic (with the sticker). Oh well.
She actually looks pretty annoyed. :)

Oh boy, was she done with this activity.

Now she's happy! (After I took the sticker off - ha!)

Cutting her eyes like her brother.
BTW - this is the blanket her Nana made for her. Beautiful, huh?

"Take a picture of me!"

"Take another picture of me!"

I love her triple chin! Why are fat thighs and double chins so cute on babies?!?

The library

2012-02-03T10:06:00.000-05:00

There are some cool things going on at the library. I happen to work at ImaginOn - the #1 children's library. :) Makes me proud!

Check out these links:

http://charlotte.news14.com/content/in_depth/652838/in-depth--david-singleton--charlotte-mecklenburg-library-system

http://livability.com/top-10/top-10-libraries-for-children/charlotte/nc

What.A.Morning

2012-02-02T10:56:00.000-05:00

I've had a full day and it's not even noon yet! I guess in hindsight, it really hasn't been that bad. It could've been worse. My car could've broken down. I could've been mugged. I could've been up all night with a crying baby. I could've had strep throat. I could've found a bug in my coffee. I could've been struck by lightning. I could've had to shovel out of 6 feet of snow. My cat could have thrown up right outside my bedroom door so that as I left my room in the pitch black I stepped in it. I guess, really, it's not so bad.

I set off the alarm in our building this morning. $500 a pop when someone sets it off. Thankfully I don't have to pay that. The security officer was not so nice. The police officer, on the other hand, was extremely nice. So, it could have been worse.

I started back programs today. Or so I was supposed to. I went to the wrong place. First time going there, and I missed it. I pulled over to call the lady and she said, "Oh, well if you mapquest it, it'll send you to the wrong address." Thank you. I figured that one out all by myself. So instead, I got there, met with her and told her about this grant that allows for programming and parent workshops. I didn't do my story times, but at least I did something productive. It could have been worse.

Here's to a better afternoon.

Family.

2012-01-31T09:22:00.000-05:00

Here are some more random pics from the past few months.

Tripp and Tyler

2012-01-31T08:05:00.000-05:00

You had me at...
"Can I borrow a copy of your Nickelback CD?"

These guys do lots of openers for Northpoint Church in Alpharetta, GA, so we see a lot of them at our church. Funny stuff.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-30T16:07:00.000-05:00

Christmas was so much fun! We had our first Christmas Eve service at our church. Children were included in the service and both my kids did a great job! Amelia Jayne slept through the whole thing and Xander was very calm and quiet. He did have to go potty twice during the one hour long service, though!

We enjoyed Christmas morning at our house, just the four of us. It was fabulous! Xander is at a great age for Christmas - he really understood the concept of presents this year and his excitement was contagious while he opened his presents and helped us open ours.

After spending the majority of Christmas day in our pajamas, we got dressed, loaded up the car and headed to Mimi's house.We spent the night there and had Christmas with Mimi, Papa, Erin, Nathan, Kaitlyn and Patrick. It was great! We really had a wonderful time. My favorite part was being together. :)

David took the week off which was so helpful. I love having him around the house. Becky came over for a couple of days so we could cook and bake together. She really ended up entertaining the children so I could do those things, but that was extremely helpful. Aunt B is awesome! She also watched the kids one night so David and I could go out on a date. It was much appreciated as we needed some downtime in the midst of the Christmas chaos! I have to admit that I almost fell asleep during the musical, though! We went to see Rock of Ages. This was one of my Christmas presents to David - I never would have gone to see it on my own. He was excited to see it, though, and I ended up having a really great time - I always do when I spend time alone with him. :)

On the 30th, we went back to Mocksville to David's parents' house. We spent the night there and had Christmas with them on the 31st. It was lots of fun :). Xander was front and center, being the only kid big enough to really get attention - although I'm sure Amelia Jayne will give him a run for his money next year.

Some family friends and my family came over to the Littles' house that night so we could ring in the new year. We played games, visited and just hung out. It was very nice. Low key, yet fun. My family and David's family came back together on the 1st to open more gifts and hang out. We had a great time!

This was such a memorable, albeit hectic (mainly because I was also taking care of a 2-month old during all of this! Nursing, napping, diaper changes, calming cries, etc.) Christmas! Bring on 2012!

At Mimi's house, decorating her tree:

Before the Christmas Eve service:

Christmas at our house:

Amelia Jayne got Violet for Christmas (the girl counterpart to Scout)

Christmas at Mimi and Papa's:

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's:

Worn out!

Random pics

2012-01-30T08:21:00.000-05:00

Here are a bunch of pics from the past 3 months

Amelia Jayne's first bath. She was not impressed.

Making pumpkin bread - this boy loves some pumpkin bread! He also loves to help me out in the kitchen. :)

Daddy and Xander

One of granddaddy's visits - he stops in every once in awhile when he's waiting on a flight since he's based in Charlotte. It's nice when he can just drop by and visit for a couple of hours, especially since he lives in Tennessee. Xander loves his visits!

Xander still likes to hold Amelia Jayne. She's not so sure about it, though. :)

Flying boy! He likes to get on my feet and we play "airplane."

Vist with Santa 2011

2012-01-28T22:18:00.001-05:00

I somewhat dreaded meeting up with the bearded man again this year. After last year's experience -

I wasn't quite sure how Xander would handle it. I wanted to do it because I really felt that Amelia Jayne needed her first-Christmas-meeting-with-Santa experience, too. And I couldn't stand the thought of not letting Xander tell Santa what he wants. So, a few weeks before Christmas, Xander told me he wanted a monster truck. I said, "Well, we'll have to ask Santa for a monster truck! Maybe he'll bring you one for Christmas!" This seemed exciting to him so he would go around saying, "I need to ask Santa for a monster truck." This was good preparation because once we got to Santa, he sat on his lap, told him what he wanted (his list was, and I quote "a monster truck and butterflies" - Hilarious!) and then he was ready to leave. He didn't want to stay with that man any longer than he had to, but he did talk to him and he did sit still long enough for us to snap a few pics.

We will definitely be going back to that Santa! He was, of all places, at Bass Pro Shops at Concord Mills. I suppose it was appropriate that Xander's request was for a monster truck. Not so much with the butterflies.:) They really had their ducks in a row there. We got there early and they gave us a Bass Pass. We were there at 5 and they told us to come back at 7. We went to dinner, walked around and then went back to the store. Once there, we got in a "fast track" line and only waited 30 minutes to see Santa! The other line was moving pretty slow, so I was glad we had gotten our quick ticket! They also had all kinds of things lined up for the kids to do while they were waiting. There was a model train that went through mountains and valleys, remote control trucks and boats that the kids could play with, and some tables setup with coloring books. It was great! Xander especially loved the train. Also, you didn't have to buy the pictures if you didn't want them (even though the packages were very affordable) and they allowed you to take your own pictures (this was not the case Xander's first Christmas when we went to SouthPark Mall and had to pay $35 for two low-quality digital pics...at least last year's 10-second-experience didn't cost anything). AND the Santa was awesome! He had a real beard and was very kind, polite and patient with the children. Overall, it was a great experience!

Xander watching the train

About AJ -Two months

2012-01-28T21:38:00.000-05:00

Amelia Jayne is perfect! She is such a sweet baby, smiling and watching everything we do. She turned 2 months old on Christmas Eve, December 24. She had her dreaded two-month appointment where she had to get two shots and take an oral vaccine. She was a trooper! She cried, but as soon as I picked her up she calmed down. Here are her two-month stats:

Weight - 12 pounds, 12ounces (92%)
Length - 24 inches (96%)
Head Circumference - 15 inches (34%)

As compared to Xander's at the same age:

Weight - 11 pounds, 14 ounces (56%)
Length - 23 inches (55%)
Head Circumference - 16.25 inches (81%)

Fun

2012-01-28T21:20:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite pics of the boys :)

Cousins

2012-01-28T21:15:00.001-05:00

Patrick and Amelia Jayne

I have a similar pic of Patrick looking at Baby Xander's feet, too :)

Kaitlyn and Amelia Jayne

The boys

Buddies :)

LOL

2012-01-28T21:11:00.000-05:00

I was feeling a little down this evening. I read an email tonight from my sweet aunt who lost a dear friend. I had been emotional over some other things, too, this afternoon, and tears weren't far away. I sat down at my computer to write an email to my aunt when David came over to check something on his computer (we share a desk). He hit a button and this is what came up only right at minute 1:14. It couldn't have been timed more perfectly.

No matter what my mood is, this scene makes me crack up every time. I laughed so hard the first time I saw it that I almost peed my pants. And it doesn't matter - EVERY time I've seen it since then I've laughed. I'm so thankful for the little things.

**Not to, in any way, devalue or minimize the pain that my aunt has over her loss. I just hope this brings a smile to her face. :)

Moms

2012-01-26T10:03:00.000-05:00

Amazing and inspiring articles for moms -
To the Mother with Only One Child
Don't Carpe Diem

In fact, the momastery blog is great. Very true to life. Makes me feel sane on most days. :)

Boy, am I thankful for my mom. Never knew until I had my own kids how amazing she is. And I always thought she was awesome. But she's way more awesome than I even knew. In fact, she's way more awesome than I could ever begin to understand. I hope my own kids can say the same about me when they're my age.

I really love that lady.

My mom and me in 2010

Mom, Erin and me in 2009

Apparently I need some updated pics of my mom and me!! I'll have to work on that with my awesome new camera :).

The end of books?

2012-01-26T08:59:00.000-05:00

So.Very.Cool.

We Give Thanks

2012-01-25T22:41:00.002-05:00

Written November 28

There are so many things to be thankful for this year. Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to remember all the things God has blessed us with, get together with family, and enjoy the many blessings our family brings to the table…literally and figuratively!

This year we had Thanksgiving at my sister’s house. She did an AMAZING job. I wish I could convey how hard she worked, how beautiful her house looked and how totally tasty her food was. She is the perfect hostess. Of course she gets that from my mom (who may have helped her out just a little bit), but I really was thoroughly impressed. She made homemade rolls, cooked the turkey rotisserie style, made party potatoes, butternut squash, dressing from scratch, asparagus and mushrooms, pecan pie, ginger cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and a chocolate peanut butter cake (that is to die for!). My mom made waldorf salad, pea salad and pumpkin pie. My aunt Karen brought the best sweet potato casserole I’ve ever had (of course it had 5 sticks of butter in it – yikes!!).

There were about 18 of us gathered together off and on all day. My favorite part is always seeing my Aunt Karen and Aunt Cheryl. They are so much fun and bring a spark to the group that would be terribly missed if they weren’t there. I’m so glad they make the trip each year.

This year was also fun because Xander is now old enough to really play with his cousins. After spending four straight days together, he and Patrick were best friends! They played in a leaf pile together, played hide and seek, played with cars, slid down the slide over and over, and watched Cars 2 twice. They had a blast together! Even Kaitlyn and Xander made up a game with feathers that both of them seemed to thoroughly enjoy.

Saturday David’s family came over to my mom’s house and we helped decorate her Christmas tree. We ate more leftovers, played games and had a great time.

There are certainly many things to be thankful for!

Nana with the kids

Granddaddy with Amelia Jayne

Nana and Amelia Jayne

Aunt Cheryl with Amelia Jayne

The Karens and Cheryl looking at AJ

So sweet!

One of my fave pics from the day - Aunt Karen smiling (she didn't know I took her pic)

The amazing hostess!

You should've seen the size of dad's piece of cake! I told you the peanut butter chocolate cake was to die for!!

About AJ - One month

2012-01-25T17:26:00.000-05:00

Written November 28

Amelia Jayne turned one month old on Thanksgiving day. She had her one month checkup at the doctor last Tuesday. Here were the results -
She now weighs 10 pounds 4 ounces (80th percentile)
She is now 22 1/4 inches long (88th percentile)
Her head circumference is 14 1/4 inches (29th percentile)

I looked back at Xander's - here were his one month results:
Weight - 9 pounds 9 ounces (44th percentile)
Length - 22 inches (68th percentile)
Head circumference - 15 1/2 inches (76th percentile)

It's interesting to me to compare the two.

AJ continues to do well. She is a good baby who rarely cries unless she's tired, hungry, or has gas. She's been particularly gassy today, but I think it's all the beans I ate yesterday! I'll remember that for the future...
We put her in her room for the first time last night. I'll do my best to keep her in her bed tonight since last night she ended up in bed with us a lot. I think I was just tired and didn't want to get up and down so much. She has slept for 5 hour stretches at night a few times, for which I am very thankful!
She's a great eater and has become much more efficient over the past week or so. She typically takes no more than 10 minutes on each side which is especially nice at night. I can feed and change her in 30 minutes.
Overall things are going really well!

Catch up!

2012-01-20T16:49:00.000-05:00

I'm so behind! These past few months have passed almost in a blur! What a crazy time to have a baby - one week after she was born it was Halloween, 3 weeks after that was Thanksgiving and then the busyness of the holidays took over! The new year came and went, things were out of place and in utter chaos at my house and then all of a sudden it was time to start back to work! What?!!?

I had many things I wanted to post about over the last few months, so I'll do my best to cover all that I can in the next few posts. I'm sure I'll leave out vital things, but there's just too much for me to be able to cover it all! Anyway, we're surviving, and I guess more than that - we're thriving! Know that life is good, albeit chaotic. We're learning what it means to be a family of four, with a full-time working dad and part-time working mom, Xander in preschool and Amelia Jayne going to daycare one day a week. It's a wild ride!

Seven years ago

2011-11-28T17:53:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was mine and David's 7th wedding anniversary. That's so hard to believe! A lot has happened over the past seven years. Some highlights...
2004 - We survived a winter together without heat - so we made our own ;)
2005 - We bought a house
2006 - We vowed to get healthy and lost lots of weight
2007 - We found our church home - Ridge Church
2008 - We took a trip to Cancun
2009 - We had a beautiful baby boy
2010 - We both turned 30 and celebrated by going to NYC - one of our favorite trips we've taken together!
2011 - We had a beautiful baby girl

Xander loves his sister!

2011-11-28T11:23:00.002-05:00

Where is Thumbkin?

2011-11-28T11:20:00.000-05:00

Halloween

2011-11-28T11:05:00.000-05:00

Halloween was actually lots of fun! I had bought costumes for both kids thinking we would go to “Trunk or Treat” at church with Grandma, but we ended up staying in Charlotte that day. I was kind of bummed, but just figured we’d do it next year. I did, however, leave the porch light on so we could give out candy to all the cute kids. The first few kids that came to the door really intrigued Xander. He seemed so interested that I asked him if he would like to take a walk and go trick or treating. He said yes, even though he had no idea what trick or treating was. We dressed up both kids and went to about 5 or 6 houses in our neighborhood. It was great! Xander walked up to each door and said “Trick or Treat” and “Happy Halloween.” I was very proud of him and excited that he got to have the Halloween experience. The weather was nice, chilly, but clear. Amelia Jayne was warm in her snuggly ladybug costume and Xander was the cutest Mater around! :)

The first 3 weeks and those awful 3 days

2011-11-28T10:39:00.000-05:00

Written on November 14

These past three weeks have been great! Amelia Jayne is an amazing baby. So far she's extremely easy-going and content. She cries when she's hungry and when she's sleepy, but that's about it! She's been sleeping great at night - I wake her up every three hours to eat and then she pretty much goes right back to sleep. Awesome! There's really only been one night that she's cried and we David stayed up with her. We realized it was gas, got some gas relief drops and she did fine after that.

I have been feeling so good. I cannot tell you how much better I feel this time around then I did when I had Xander. Going through 20 hours of labor and then having a c-section is no bueno. Scheduling this c-section and having an idea of what I was going to go through was much better for me. I have recovered quickly, haven't needed nearly as much help, and have already been out and about multiple times! It took three weeks before I had my first outing with Xander. We had our first outing with Amelia Jayne when she was about 5 days old. I'm not quite back to my old self and I still have some pains (mostly from muscles that I haven't used in awhile from being pregnant) but overall I'm doing very well.

Xander is having a lot of fun with his little sister. I didn't really know what to expect from him. I thought he might either get really jealous and act out or completely ignore her. He really hasn't done either. He has his moments when he wants more attention, but typically I (or whoever's around) takes that time to spend with him. He's already said the sweetest things. He stayed with his Mimi and Grandma for a couple of days last week and when we got to Grandma's house to pick him up he went over to AJ's carrier and said, "I missed you Melia Jayne!" - completely unprompted. He has to give her a kiss every night and tell her he loves her before he goes to bed. He's concerned about her when she cries and usually asks me, "What's wrong with Melia Jayne?" His answer is typically that mommy needs to feed her. :) He likes to look at her and point out her "little tiny toes" as he says.

David's doing well. He was able to take the week off after I came back from the hospital. I missed not having him with me each day at the hospital and he missed not having that time with me and Amelia Jayne, but I am so thankful that we chose to do it that way. Having him home with me, Xander and AJ for that whole week was really great. I know it was good for Xander to have special attention from his daddy.

That leads us to these last three days. They've been interesting to say the least. It started on Saturday. We were over at Grandma and Grandpa's house when I noticed Xander looked very flushed and he was warm. Since Grandpa is a doctor we had him look at him - turns out he had an ear infection and strep throat. I also had strep throat. We left that night and went by a 24-hour pharmacy to pick up the medication. When we got home Xander had fallen asleep so we had to wake him up to give him the meds. It was awful. We had to hold him down to give it to him and he immediately threw it all back up. This was the first experience Xander has had with throwing up. It was my first experience with having a child who threw up. Not fun. He and I ended up in the shower, which was not something Xander wanted to do at 10pm. Then we still had to figure out how to get the meds down him. We mixed it with different liquids, but the one medication just kept coming back up. Ick. He ended up going through 3 pairs of pajamas that night. After going to bed at midnight, though, he stayed asleep and woke up fine the next morning. We layed low that day, although it was supposed to be our first Sunday back at church. I was really bummed, but knew I didn't want to expose the kids in Xander's class to strep throat, so we just stayed home.

That leads us to Monday - my first day home alone with both children. All was going well. The morning went by without incident. Then after lunch I asked Xander if he wanted to go for a walk. He did, so we started getting ready to go outside. He ran through the kitchen and was coming into the living room when he tripped and fell into a cabinet. And split his head open. It was bad, but I couldn't tell if it needed stitches. It wasn't bleeding badly, but the wound looked kind of open. Anyway, I called David and we he ended up taking him to the hospital where his dad was working to have him check it out. Grandpa to the rescue again! He glued the wound back together and put some steri-strips on it to keep it from scarring as badly and to help it heal quickly. Xander was a trooper.

Some pics from the first few weeks.

Xander loving on AJ

He loves to hold her!

Xander's big boo boo

After Grandpa fixed him up

Daddy love

Catching up

2011-11-16T16:38:00.000-05:00

I know I'm a little behind, but I wanted to post about all the different things we've done over the last few weeks, so expect some somewhat random posts on older subjects, like Halloween. :)

Introducing...

2011-11-03T20:41:00.000-04:00

Amelia Jayne Little!

Born October 24, 2011 at 7:27am

Weight - 9 pounds 5 ounces

Length - 20.5 inches

One week old and already smiling for the camera!!

She's a beautiful, healthy, sweet little girl. I am so thankful for her!

Just 3 more days...

2011-10-21T14:43:00.000-04:00

It's hard for me to imagine that I'll have my little girl in my arms at this time on Monday...just three days from now.

I'm so excited to see her little face, touch her velvety soft skin, take in her fresh baby scent, hold her close to me and love on her for eternity.

I can't wait to introduce her to her brother, who will be a totally awesome big brother - he's got a good role model since his daddy was a pretty awesome big brother, too.

I look forward to staring in awe at her right beside my loving husband, her daddy.

I'll pray for her and tell her all about her other Daddy, too - the God of the universe who created her, knit her together in my womb, and has a place for her in this world.

There are so many people who already love her and have been looking forward to this day. Her Mimi, Papa, Grandma, Grandpa, Granddaddy, Nana, Ee-oo, Nay-nay, Kaitlyn, Patrick, Aunt B, GG, and so many others. She already has 2 best friends, Anya and Keira, and a boyfriend, Caleb, all born in the past few weeks.

She is loved more than words can express. My heart is overflowing.

One of Xander's favorite places...

2011-10-21T11:12:00.000-04:00

Chick-Fil-A!

Birthday sweetness

2011-10-18T16:00:00.000-04:00

A birthday kiss for Mommy :)

Xander's gift to Mommy :)

Xander is such a good helper!

Confessions

2011-10-18T15:47:00.001-04:00

I have to admit - I'm pretty miserable right now. I don't feel like I can do anything that doesn't cause pain. I think, "I'll just lay down for a minute" and either my hips, back, stomach, chest, etc. hurts! I think, "I'll just take a walk" and my hips, pelvis, legs or feet ache tremendously. I think, "I can cook dinner tonight" and by the time I'm finished with it, I'm useless for the rest of the night. I think, "I have all these things I want to do before Amelia Jayne is born" and I get a small fraction of those things accomplished.

I'm feeling pretty useless these days. Especially when I have a day like yesterday.

I lost it yesterday. Like, really lost it. I yelled at Xander. Like, really yelled. I've never done that before. He was exasperating me, repeating everything I said instead of answering my questions. He was tired which complicated matters, made him more emotional and needy. I didn't have much to give yesterday. So I yelled at him. He cried. I cried. It was awful. As a wise friend told me, "He'll forget about it," and I believe that and I'm thankful that God erases sin and gives comfort to the needy, but I don't know that I'll forget so easily. I felt (and still feel) terrible about the way I acted out in anger toward my two year old child who can't control his emotions and doesn't understand his own needs yet.

Sigh.

Life will get better. I know this. It's less than a week now when I will no longer be pregnant. I will hold my sweet little girl in my arms (instead of in my body) and be able to share her with others, too.

Right now I'm feeling emotional and drained. Oh and did I mention I have a cold? And so does Xander. Thanks for your prayers, friends. And thanks for letting me be honest about what I'm going through. Life isn't all bad by any means. There are still good and happy moments. But in 6 days, I hope to see many more of those. :)

Preschool

2011-10-07T11:47:00.001-04:00

It just occurred to me that I haven't posted about Xander's preschool experience yet! He's been going for five weeks now. He goes once a week on Tuesdays. I'm so proud of him! Each day we've gone he's been so excited to be there. Here was the first day's experience:
We pulled into the parking lot, I got him out of his seat, I gave him his lunchbox, he grabbed my hand and said, "I hold Mommy's hand in the road," (::sigh:: Such a big boy!!) we walked to the door, went in and looked at the fish tank for a couple of minutes, walked down the hall to his room, found his name and left his bag and lunchbox there, and he walked right in! I had to remind him to give me a kiss.

He has been so eager and ready to get into his classroom and play! When I pick him up at 1pm he's usually playing with cars, tractors, blocks, or out on the playground. His teachers usually tell me he's pretty tired at the end of the day, but his behavior is still very good. I'm sure he does much more active things at school than he does with his 9-month pregnant mommy.

I'm so thankful that he loves it! After the first couple of times, I asked him to tell me what he does and the only things he would tell me were that he "plays ground" which I finally figured out meant he played on the playground :), he plays with cars and trucks, and he sings "The ABC song" during circle time. Now he's come home singing songs that I don't recognize, so I know he learned them in preschool. He sings the blessing, "God Our Father" and a song called "Icky Bicky Bumblebee." His teachers told me that he sings "Twinkle Twinkle" and "The ABC song" a lot, too. They've been making each letter of the alphabet each week. We're up to "D" now. Xander absolutely loves this and carries his letters around the house all the time. He loves the alphabet!

This week I asked him to tell me who his friends are at school - he said "Ms. Jean and Ms. Lindsey" who are, of course, his teachers! Haha! It's so funny to me how much he prefers the company of adults to other children.

I'll post some pics from his first day of school as soon as I get them off my camera which is not in my possession right now.

Interesting info...

2011-10-07T11:24:00.000-04:00

This is a great post by my friend, Patrick, about the One Campaign.

I love the Tiny Prints website and I just found their DIY blog! Awesome!

I've known about Etsy for awhile, but never really looked at the site. It's way cool!

I saw a friend's facebook post about Mi Esperanza. Looks like a great ministry and an amazing way to help out women in poverty.

My birthday was yesterday. It was awesome. David and I celebrated on Wed night by going out to Fleming's (we had gift cards :)) and having the "Memorable Meal for Two" - it was delicious! I wish I could have done more, but I've been so tired lately that dinner was about all I could handle. We were supposed to baby-sit a little girl last night, but she was sick, so we got to spend the evening together, just the two of us! Again, I had grandiose ideas of going to a movie (we have more gift cards :)) but by the time I got home from work I was pretty exhausted. That's kind of my life these days...exhaustion. So we had a simple dinner and lounged together in the living room. That's kind of my way of celebrating anyway - I'm a really good lounger/relaxer :).

I'm 37 weeks pregnant today - officially considered full-term!

Beautiful weather...awesome weekend

2011-10-07T10:18:00.000-04:00

Last weekend was beautiful! I love when the temps stay in the 60s for the high...ahhh...fall is in the air! We have spent a lot of time outdoors over the past few days.

David and Xander went uptown and rode the train on Saturday while I went to my friend, Crystal's, baby shower. Here are some pics from their adventures.

On the platform, waiting for the train.

Still waiting...

There it is!

Playing on the typewriter letters outside of ImaginOn.

Here comes the train!

There it is!

Cool.

Telling Scout all about the train.

Time to go.

Just one last look...

Sunday we celebrated Patrick's 6th birthday. My sister hosted at her house with a chicken stew supper, lots of friends and family, and a fun game of tag (in which I did not participate).
My sister is such a great hostess! She had lovely decorations, beautiful flowers, the food was yummy and perfectly displayed. I'm so proud of her! We ended the evening with a bonfire while Patrick opened presents. It was a great day! I think Patrick really enjoyed his birthday. :)

Festival in the Park

2011-10-01T20:56:00.000-04:00

Last weekend Charlotte had its annual Festival in the Park at Freedom Park. David and I decided to brave it with Xander this year - our first time going with him. It was quite fun! It rained most of the day, except while we were actually at the park - awesome! And Xander hadn't napped in a couple of days at that point, but he actually handled things very well.

We bought fair food and had a picnic, walked around to all the booths with artwork, crafts, and information, watched people dance on the stages and heard some live music performances. Overall it was a great time - I would do it again. Next year we'll have an 11-month old to add to the mix...we'll see how I feel about that when the time comes around again at this time next year. :)

Here are some pics of Xander playing on the playground and riding the train (with Scout, of course!).

History

2011-09-28T17:36:00.003-04:00

So maybe you know this and maybe you don't. David and I have a history. A loooong history. I mean, like, I've known him for 26 years.

(That makes us sound really old, right? But we're not. That goes on record. We're NOT old.)

He and I were in the same kindergarten class. In fact, we were in the same kindergarten, first grade, second grade, and fifth grade class, some sixth grade, seventh grade, and eighth grade classes, and at least one ninth grade class together. Not to mention some extracurricular activities, too.

It's pretty cool. We know a lot about each other. He saw me through my awkward stages and I saw him through his. We can mention names like Jesse Rutter and Bethany Hoose and know exactly what the other is thinking. We have some of the same memories, only they're from our own perspectives. I was the reason he got grounded the first time (because he bit my finger - we were like 7 or something and I'm sure I was waving my finger in his face). It's kind of like remembering my childhood from someone else's perspective. And David has such a good memory. I love when he talks about our past because I feel like I'm learning new things! Ha!

But the funny thing is that we really didn't pay any attention to each other when we were young. David's sister, Becky, and I played all the time. We had/have a lot in common even though she's three years younger than me. My sister, Erin, and David hung out a lot because they have similar personalities. Which is to say that they were both okay doing their own thing and not hanging out with anyone.

But I pay a lot of attention to him now :). He's my best friend. I love him. I'm glad God brought us together when he did and not any earlier. Sometimes I wonder what it would've been like to be in love with him all those years ago and I just think about how hard that would've been. I wouldn't have wanted to move to Texas during my high school years, which would have been tragic. A lot of good happened to me in Texas, during both high school and college. All the events that made us who we are today probably wouldn't have happened in the same way. And I wouldn't change that. David's perfect for me just the way he is. Quirks and all. :)

My big sis, Erin, me, David, and David's little sis, Becky.
My sister was actually the tallest (now she's the shortest) and Becky was the runt (she's now the tallest girl of the group)! Erin was about 10 years old, I was 7, David was 7 and Becky was 4.

In other news...

2011-09-27T17:03:00.000-04:00

I had a doctor's appointment today. This was a normal weekly visit as well as my final ultrasound before the big day. They measured Amelia Jayne's head circumference and checked to make sure all is well. She looks great! They even did some 3D shots (which I still think are creepy, especially at this stage when the poor thing is squished so much that she looks like her arms are growing out of her head...she is pretty darn cute, though, head-arms and all).

BUT, she's HUGE.

Are you ready for this? My daughter is already 7.5lbs!!! What?!?! I have 4 weeks left until my c-section and typically babies gain about a half pound per week during the last month. I am not prepared to have a 9.5lb baby. I am SO glad that I already have a c-section scheduled. Let me tell you that I would be scheduling one right now if I didn't. Of course there's a possibility that she won't be that big or that she just has a huge head (like her brother did). Either way, I'm feeling much better about my decision to have a repeat cesarian. Xander was 9lbs when he was born and he was 6 days late. I didn't have an ultrasound at this point when I was pregnant with him so I don't know how big he was at 35 weeks gestation. All I know is that this little girl may not be so little after all...

Memories

2011-09-27T16:42:00.000-04:00

I found these pics on my computer the other day. I had almost forgotten about them! Xander was sooo little! These are his 3-month pics. He was such a happy, smiley baby!

Now I'm feeling all nostalgic and weepy...silly pregnancy hormones.

Newborns

2011-09-22T17:34:00.001-04:00

These are newborn pics of Xander - he was only hours old. I can't believe in one month I'll have another one! I just love how sweet, little and snuggly newborn babies are.

Remember this post from a few months ago? Well, most of my friends have had their babies now, so I've gotten to enjoy them before I have another one :)

Julie had Elijah Brennan on June 10.

Angela had Claire Emma on June 29.

Lulu had Winston Gilley on July 8.

Veronica had Caleb Alexander on July 18.

Amanda had Isaiah James on August 13.

Kristen had Emily Grace on August 26.

Lisa had Anya Grace on September 12.

Naphtalie had Landon today, September 22!! (No photo of Landon yet)

I'll be next - scheduled c-section on October 24, Crystal will have hers soon after me (real soon after me if she gets her way :)) and I found out a couple of months ago that my friend Mindie is due to have her second child in January! Woo hoo!

Justin & Thea

2011-09-22T16:22:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we drove to Johnson City, TN for David's cousin, Justin's, wedding. It was a beautiful affair! Here's their wedding website.

Congratulations to Justin and Thea! I hope they have a long and happy marriage.

You can certainly tell that David and Justin are cousins, right?

Thea is really one of the sweetest people I've ever met. I haven't spent much time with her, but every time I see her she is kind, caring and full of peace. Isn't she gorgeous??

So glad we got to be a part of their special day.

Xander did fairly well considering his lack of sleep. He barely got a nap from Wednesday through Sunday and went to sleep way later than normal (I dare say he even saw 11pm and midnight a time or two...yikes!).

My SIL, Becky, said she saw the mother look come out in me when he ran out onto the dance floor (which was empty at the time) and screamed at the top of his lungs. That got him taken straight out of the reception to the ladies' room where we had a little talk. Then after the first dance David sat down with him, bouncing him on his knees and his eyes started rolling back in his head. He reached for me and laid his little head on my chest (and big ol' belly) and fell fast asleep - during the noisiest part of the reception! You can tell he was tired :). Wish I had a pic of it, but amidst the crazy chaos that is keeping up with a 2-year-old, we didn't take a single picture. The wedding pics above are courtesy of David's cousin, Ame.

Story times

2011-09-21T16:42:00.000-04:00

I realized I haven't blogged about work in a long time! It's going well, despite the loss of two of our staff members for a period of time. Amy will hopefully be back in a couple of weeks after a bicycle accident and Veronica will come back from maternity leave the week before I go out on maternity leave. I've been focusing on my regular story times with daycares and centers around the community, as well as my Jumpstart programs and story times for children with special needs. I've been filling in a tad bit for Amy while she's out, but overall things have been going well. Here are some pics one of the teachers took at the ABC Language Stimulation School - a site I visit monthly and do story times for children with special needs.

Don't laugh at my expressions. Okay, go ahead. I laughed when I saw them, too...after I cringed a bit inside. And my big ol' pregnant self...all I can do is laugh or I'll cry, right?!

Peace

2011-09-16T13:06:00.000-04:00

I tend to get an email from my Aunt Karen when it's been a few days of no blogging. So, KtG, this is for you! No, the blog is not broken!

I, however, feel somewhat broken! Emotionally, mentally, physically. Things are starting to fall apart here! Well, that's not exactly true. Sure, my body is tired, achy and cumbersome. Sure, my emotions are frazzled, at times low and other times high, and in overdrive all the time. Sure, my mind is a hot mess - dealing with my suddenly overwhelming two year old, thinking of what life with a toddler and newborn will be like, dealing with work stresses since two of my co-workers are out (one due to a biking accident and one out on maternity leave) leaving 5 and a half people trying to keep their programs going on top of the ones we're already doing, still trying to make time for my husband who I care for so deeply, scheduling everyone's days and juggling all of this together.

But you know what? I have peace.

Romans 5:1 - Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ

Luke 2:14 - “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Philippians 4:7 - And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:9 - Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Hebrews 13:20-21 - Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Romans 15:13 - May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Colossians 3:15 - Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

Irony

2011-09-02T08:41:00.000-04:00

Funny how I post about fall and the cool, crispness of the air (I haven't quite felt "crisp" yet, though I have noticed some changing of the leaves already!) when our air conditioner goes out! Ha! These past couple of days have been around 92-95 degrees! We're supposed to have a cool front move in early next week and the temps should be in the upper 70's, lower 80's. I can't wait for that! Maybe I should have postponed my post until the cooler weather set in....

Here's what happened over the last few days. Wednesday evening David and I both got home late - him from working and me from having a meeting for church. I walked in and it felt hot. I looked at the thermostat which read 79 - yikes! Usually in the heat of summer I allow us to keep the house between 76 and 78 degrees - it's just more economical that way. But recently with my pregnancy I've been getting hotter than normal so I've been bumping it down to 74. 79 degrees feels really hot compared to 74! Anyway, it was after 10 when we concluded, yes the air conditioner is definitely not working. Not wanting to pay an after-hours fee we decided to bring another fan in the bedroom and just suck it up. Not my best night of sleep, but oh well.

The next morning we called and the air people said they'd be out that afternoon. David went home to work and wait on them and I continued my day at work. They came, did their thing and left. David went back to work. When I got home around 6:30pm it was even hotter. The thermostat downstairs read 84 degrees and the one upstairs read 87! We called them back and they said they could get someone out early this morning. David and I contemplated going to a hotel last night, but instead we ended up opening some windows, bringing the fan downstairs, and sleeping on the couch and big comfy chair. It was fairly miserable and neither of us slept well, but hopefully we'll get it fixed today! If not, I see a trip to the lake house in my immediate future. The air conditioner works really well there. :)

Fall

2011-09-01T18:05:00.000-04:00

I love the fall of the year! It's definitely my favorite! I'm fully aware that the first day of Autumn is actually on September 23, but when September comes I already feel the seasons begin to change. The beginning of the school year brings cooler weather, changing leaves, football games, television show premieres, and typically a change of pace. I won't say it slows down, but somehow it seems less hectic. I like that. There's more of a schedule and routine in place - and I don't even have children who are in school yet! The atmosphere at the library changes - it's a bit quieter and things have a calmer feel. Anyway, I just love it.

I have so many reasons to celebrate fall this year. The biggest one, of course, being the birth of my sweet baby girl, but also Xander is starting preschool, the holidays are right around the corner, there are so many birthdays to celebrate (mine included!), and we have so many exciting changes going on! It makes me want to go out and buy new notebooks, pens and pencils, warmer clothes, visit a pumpkin patch and apple orchard, sip hot apple cider, bake pumpkin bread, and carve jack-o-lanterns. Mmmm. I can smell my Harvest candle already.

Sick and Preschool Orientation

2011-09-01T17:13:00.000-04:00

I apologize for my lack of blogging lately. A stomach bug had me down last week and I was still recuperating over the weekend. Things are getting back to normal now! I've been playing catch up at work and still continuing to run around crazy (though I should probably try to take it a little easier) doing Waumba curriculum at church and getting together with friends who are about to give birth or who have recently had a child. Never a dull moment!

David, Xander and I went to Xander's preschool orientation on Tuesday night. I was so proud of him! We went to "meet the teacher" first. His teachers, Ms. Jean and Ms. Lindsey seem very sweet. They seem like a great team and a perfect combination for Xander. Ms. Jean is soft-spoken and gentle, Ms. Lindsey seems energetic and fun. They'll be really good for Xander, I'm sure.

Ms. Jean kindly told us, "We'll work on learning our letters and numbers, recognizing them, and learning our colors. Does Xander know his alphabet?" I suppressed a laugh and just nodded saying, "Yes, he does!" Then Xander proceeds to go over to the door and point out the letters in everyone's names. I didn't want to tell her that he's already spelling some words on his own, can count to 40, and recognizes upper and lower case letters! Of course, this whole experience is more to help Xander with his social skills then to improve his academics. Maybe it will boost his self-confidence to already know most of the things that will be taught! I am excited that they're also going to learn their days of the week, sing songs and read stories during circle time, and do some arts and crafts. I have a hard time getting Xander interested in arts and crafts. Perhaps when he sees the other children participating he'll be more interested. All in all, I'm very pleased and excited about this program! It makes me want to go back to school hearing all the fun things they'll be doing! Ha!

He had a great time playing with the cars, trucks and tractors while the other kids and their parents came in the room. All the parents were kind and friendly, always introducing themselves and chatting with me. When it was time for David and I to leave for the parent meeting, I told Xander we'd see him later. He was across the room playing, glanced up briefly and went back to playing. Wow! I was so impressed and happy about that. No tantrums or tears. Very cool. Then they all played outside on the playground while the parents met.

The director told us that the teachers have a prayer time before class starts each day. Each classroom has circle time, prayer time, outside time, lunchtime, and play time daily. She told us some rules and important information and then we were finished! They have some fun things planned like a Fall Festival, Easter egg hunt, Parents Night Out, picture day, etc.

Xander will be going to preschool every Tuesday from 9:30-1:15 and if things go well we'll be adding Thursdays in January. So excited for my big boy!

Books I've read: May - August, 2011

2011-09-01T12:56:00.000-04:00

Below are the books I've read over the past few months. Check out the books I read early in the year here. I'm really thankful that I have the time to read right now. There was a fairly large stretch of time that I really didn't read much because I was so busy with baby Xander. Now that he's 2 year-old Xander, I find that I do have some time to myself and that's when I do what I love - read. I guess this cycle will continue after the new baby is born, so I'm soaking up all the time I have to read now. :)

1. The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I had no idea how great this book would be! It had been recommended to me by a few different people, including one of my mom's friends who is an avid reader, a co-worker of mine and even the dental hygenist at my dentist's office! So I figured with such a wide variety of people talking about it I should check it out. So I did. And I'm so glad! It's an excellent book! If you get a chance to listen to this book on audio, you definitely should. My co-worker told me how good the audio is, so I chose to grab it and listen to it when I was on the road driving to and from work and my programs. There are three or four different ladies who read the story and they have great voices for the characters. I was even talking to David's grandma last week and she said she's going to start it soon. It appeals to many different audiences. I didn't realize it was going to be made into a movie until David and I went to the movies in June and I saw a stand-up display. David and I went to see it on one of our date nights this month and really enjoyed it! Yes, even David enjoyed it, so take your husbands if you want! It's very true to the book and such a good story. The actresses they chose were perfect!

2. The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond

I am an avid Pioneer Woman blog reader. I love how she writes - she's witty, honest and just downright makes me laugh. This book is no exception. The story of how she met her Marlboro Man, fell in love, married, etc. It's a great, funny, romantic, sappy read. And, yes, I laughed out loud multiple times! :)

3. Little Bee by Chris Cleave

Hmmm...
Sad, hopeful, disturbing. Speaks heavily to the heart, but I'm still not exactly sure how I feel about it.
An account of two women (a young teenager from Nigeria and a British woman) whose lives intersect and are forever connected.

4. Two Kisses for Maddy by Matthew Logelin

Unlike most stories of loss, Matthew Logelin is very down to earth and real about his grief. I'm not quite used to the language he uses (e.g. he cusses - a lot.) but it's how he expresses himself. Not exactly sure why I decided to read a story about a husband and wife who have a baby and 27 hours after the baby is born the mother has a pulmonary embolism and dies. I mean, I'm two-thirds of the way through my pregnancy and already have a child - why would I torture myself with this kind of story? My only answer is that I love memoirs and biographies and I love hearing real people tell true stories about themselves. It actually warms my own heart to see how the human heart can still survive after such a devastating blow.

5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
I read this again in honor of the movie coming out last month. I have loved re-reading the books just before I see the movie for the first time so I can notice the differences. I typically enjoy the movie more after the book is out of my mind since I get irritated that certain things get left out or changed in the movie compared to the book. This time I was pleasantly surprised. There were definitely some changes and differences, but I wasn't upset about any of them.

6. Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Well, I'm only part way through - I'll let you know what I think when I'm finished. I've wanted to read this book for a long time. Written over 150 years ago, it's been referenced many times and I've been curious to read it for myself. It was quite the scandal when it was published and has been banned many times in history - who doesn't want to read a banned book and see what all the fuss is about! Ha!

Pregnancy update

2011-08-24T21:25:00.000-04:00

I'm to that stage now where I have a doctor's appointment every 2 weeks. I had one today and I'll have another one on September 7th and 21st. Then I'll start the weekly visits - woo hoo!

Everything seems to be going well! Amelia Jayne is measuring at 32 weeks and I'll be 31 weeks on Friday. She's measuring a tad big, but nothing to worry about. My blood pressure looks good - something I've been somewhat worried about since it was high about 6 weeks ago. It's been fine ever since then, so maybe that was just a bad day. My glucose tolerance test went well and I'm not anemic - both great pieces of news!

Unfortunately, I also seem to be at that point where I'm not sleeping well due to light sleeping and not being able to get into a deep sleep, aches and pains (especially backaches), and not being able to get comfortable. Therefore, I am super-tired, especially after running after my two-year old and doing otherwise normal activities. The doctor suggested benadryl, so I may try that over the next couple of nights. I just don't want to be in that foggy "I took drugs to sleep better" state when I wake up in the mornings. We'll see how it goes. I've also had a lot of tension in my neck and back - hoping to get that prenatal massage soon. :)

Other than those minor things, life is good!

Oh! And I've scheduled a date for my c-section! Amelia Jayne will be born on October 24, 2011, assuming she cooperates and comes as scheduled. :) Exactly 2 months from today - I'm so excited!!!

As a side note - Xander is two and a half today. :) My little boy is growing up so quickly!

RE

2011-08-24T21:02:00.001-04:00

My friend Bonnie and I call each other "Re." I can't really explain it - it's one of those inside jokes that people don't get unless they were there. Anyway, we've been calling each other this for going on 12 years - can you believe that? 12 years. Wow. Anyway, I read this blog today on a whole series of "Re" words and it made me think of her - it's very true of her anyway :).

Here's an excerpt from one of the posts:

There are many “RE” words that are packed with hope and encouragement. The word REpurpose is often used today to remind us that many things once discarded, considered useless, and put aside for the trash heap, can be brought back, become useful once again, have value, and take on new meaning.

In the Scriptures we find some wonderful “RE” words that can keep hope and encouragement alive and thriving in our hearts.

Thanks, Re, for being so encouraging and full of hope!

Preschool...sigh...

2011-08-24T15:46:00.000-04:00

Actually I'm feeling pretty good about preschool right now! One morning a week will be good for Xander. And me. I'm tired.

So orientation is next Tuesday night! We'll go meet his teacher, see his classroom, and then have a parent meeting afterward. Yippee!

Xander will be going to First Baptist Church's preschool program. We don't go to church there, but after visiting I am so excited to take him there! He'll be going on Tuesday mornings from 9:30-1:15. There are so many things I love about this place already - they have a fish tank and that sucked Xander in right away. He can't get enough of those fish! They offer one day a week which is really what I wanted to start Xander out with. We'll up him to two days around January or February (after my maternity leave is over). They have a small classroom with maximum capacity of nine 2-year olds. Their playground is enclosed in a courtyard between the buildings - and it's awesome! They have rubber mulch, multiple slides and pieces of equipment to play on and it's partly shaded in the mornings. I'll try to get a pic when I can. The school is affordable - a necessity for us! It's only 15 minutes from our house, on David's way to work, about 2/3 of a mile from my office and 5 minutes for either me or David to get there from work - awesome! It's a Christian environment, so they'll teach him Bible stories and say prayers with him. It just seems like the perfect place!

Anyway, I'm pretty stoked. :) I visited one other preschool and was not nearly as impressed. I got such a great first impression from the director and the facility at First Baptist. Can't wait to meet the teacher and get this party started! It really is going to be good for Xander. A little socialization with other kids his age may be difficult at first, but I think he'll adjust. He's certainly adjusted to the kids at church and he sees them on a weekly basis. And I'm happy to get him adjusted to preschool before Amelia Jayne arrives. Lots of new and exciting things happening this fall!

Cute Pics

2011-08-24T15:30:00.000-04:00

Some random pics that I found over the past couple of weeks. Figured they needed to be shared. :)

Xander looks like a driving expert, right? He sure does love cars...

Checking out that steering wheel.
He studies things more than anyone I know. Oh wait, he is a bit like his father. :)

Snuggling with Aunt B at her house earlier in the summer.

Sleeping on his cot at the lake house. That cot was totally worth the $25. He loves that thing!
And no bedtime would be complete without Scout. :)

Playing in the boat at Benjamin's Calabash Seafood Buffet when we were at Myrtle Beach this summer.

Xander's bedroom at the beach. His cot fit perfectly in the closet...where it was dark and less noisy.
Please make note of Scout's presence...he sure loves that dog. :)

Visit from Granddaddy & Nana

2011-08-24T15:20:00.000-04:00

This week Granddaddy and Nana came to visit. We had a great time! We met up with Erin, Nathan, Kaitlyn and Patrick for dinner on Monday night which was nice - it's always good to see them. Tuesday we decided to go to Shelby and look around - at the lake, the downtown, etc. It was fun! An absolutely gorgeous day - I think the high was 86 with low humidity. We ate lunch outside at a cute little "burger joint" called Newts - I loosely call it a burger joint because, although it has tons of burger choices, they really have something for everyone! Karen and I both had the portobello mushroom sandwich and dad had the black bean burger. They had homemade potato chips and sweet potato fries, and for dessert Xander and I shared an awesome milkshake! I think I really liked that place as this post is becoming more about that than anything else. :) We really enjoyed walking around downtown, too. Lots of little boutiques, specialty shops and cafes. Very cute place. The weather helped me enjoy it even more - oh how I'm looking forward to a nice string of cooler days...I really can't complain - it's been fairly nice for the past week and looks to be nice for the rest of this one.

It was a quick trip, as they typically tend to be, but full of fun and visiting. Xander really enjoys having his Granddaddy and Nana around. Granddaddy and Xander enjoyed having sneezing wars (don't ask) and laughing hysterically. There was a lot of playing with cars and tractors, and running around chasing each other. Those guys really do love each other. :)

God Made It All - First Attempt

2011-08-19T12:09:00.000-04:00

I'm going to try and get a better video - he wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as he normally is, but this is a little preview. :)

Visit from Granddaddy

2011-08-19T12:05:00.000-04:00

We got a quick overnight visit from Granddaddy last week. Xander had such a great time with him!
Here are some pics of Granddaddy stretching while Xander ~~jumped on him~~ joined in the fun.

Here's a video of them playing together. :)

My heart is overflowing.

2011-08-18T16:17:00.000-04:00

Tuesday was an amazing day. I smiled so much and felt so much joy that I almost cried multiple times! Here are a few things that happened that day.

Xander and I visited a potential preschool. Yes, I said it. Preschool. Let's say that together, slower this time. Preeeschoool. Wow. Anyway, more about that in a later post.
Xander was such an angel! We met the director, toured the facility, and went into the classroom that would potentially be his while I talked to her for a bit. Xander just contentedly played with the toys and allowed us to chat. When it was time to go, he politely put all the toys back (with prompting from me, of course, but no tantrums about it!) and we headed out! After a visit to the fish aquarium again. :)

We went to the store after the preschool visit. (There's that "P" word again!) He was such a big helper! He helped me push the cart, picked out items on the shelf when I asked (and some that I didn't ask for! Ha!) and put them in the cart. When we were ready to check out, he asked me to sing his favorite song, "God Made it All." I started singing it to him softly and then he started belting it out. I mean, really belting it out! But he was doing such a good job with it that people just stopped and smiled, listened to him and clapped when he was finished! It was adorable! (I'm working on getting it on video, I promise :))

We came home, ate lunch, sat on the potty (did I mention we're working on the potty training thing?) and then he went down for a 3-hour nap! Awesome!

When David got home, he ran to him (like he usually does), gave him a big hug and they went upstairs so Daddy could change clothes, all the while Xander was telling Daddy about his day. So precious!! They came down and we had dinner together. Afterwards we took a walk out in the pleasantness (been awhile since I could say that about the weather!) of the evening.

It was such a great day! They don't always go that well, but I'm so incredibly thankful when they do! What a blessing my family is to me!!

Fun websites for Friday!

2011-08-12T14:49:00.000-04:00

Here are some websites you might enjoy if you have time to peruse them today or over the weekend -

http://melissa.depperfamily.net/blog/ - shared with me by some colleagues. This is mainly for librarian/teacher friends, but anyone with kids might like it! Thanks, Catherine and Amrita!

http://www.wowbrary.org/index.aspx - we have this at Charlotte Mecklenburg library. I love it! You might have it at your local library, too. It gives great updates on new books, music and DVDs that your library has currently purchased. This is how I find all my new children's books for programs and to bring home to Xander.

http://pbskids.org/ - PBS is awesome! We don't have cable at our house, so Xander doesn't have a lot of TV choices (okay by me since PBS is educational and I limit his TV viewing anyway).Xander's really into Sesame Street and Curious George. We checked out the website recently and he enjoyed some of the videos and interactive games.

http://www.bored.com/ - I haven't actually played on this site (when am I bored! Ha!) but it looks like it would be fun if you have some free time on your hands.

http://www.babycenter.com/6_your-pregnancy-29-weeks_1118.bc - Update on what Amelia Jayne is up to and looks like these days. I'm 29 weeks pregnant today - only 10 more weeks to go! Woo hoo!

Registering...again?

2011-08-12T14:15:00.000-04:00

My co-workers cornered me recently to say they want to throw a baby shower for me and Amelia Jayne! How kind of them! I was not at all expecting that and didn't even plan to register for anything considering my sisters, sisters-in-law, David's grandmother, and our mothers have all already begun to spoil sweet Amelia Jayne with clothing, bibs, blankets, towels, etc.

It started the weekend after the fourth of July. David's grandmother came to visit and she had a black garbage bag full of clothes, bibs, blankets and towels! Once she found out we were having a girl nothing could hold her back from shopping. I laughed and told her that I was planning on using a lot of the receiving blankets, gowns, and some onesies that were Xander's - nobody really cares, right? Wrong! She cares! She told me that she wanted to make sure her first great-granddaughter was cute, fashionable and girly. :) Amelia Jayne is already so spoiled (and loved) by her!

A week later when we went to the beach with the Walker family, my wonderful sisters and moms decided to throw a surprise baby shower for me. My mom, Ame, Becky, Erin, Robyn, and Jill all went shopping together at the outlet stores for cute baby girl clothes. Since they all went shopping together they coordinated the outfits, made sure to spread the love over the whole first year of Amelia Jayne's life (meaning I have clothes from 0-12months!!), and honestly, I think that was the best part of the trip for them! After the shower they talked and talked about how much fun they had shopping together. :) They are so kind and I am so blessed by them!

Now we'll be having a shower at work at the end of this month. Because of that, I told David I better register - and soon. We went to Target last weekend. It was a completely different experience than the first time, but I'm so glad we did it! We don't need nearly as much stuff, but I found a few new things that would be nice to have and, of course, I had to register for some girly stuff. :) Xander was with us, so that was also an experience. David was so helpful in watching and entertaining him while I picked stuff out. Overall it was a fun time!

Pancake post

2011-08-03T16:21:00.000-04:00

Xander loves pancakes! Here are some pics of him eating his favorites - chocolate chip banana pancakes. Yum!

Two & a half...where does the time go?

2011-08-01T16:58:00.000-04:00

Xander turns two and a half on the 24th of this month! How crazy is that?? Some of my long-distance friends and folks that don't see Xander often will ask me what he's up to these days. Sometimes I have to think about it because he does so many new things each day I can't keep up! I've started writing them down so I remember. Here's what I've collected over the past few weeks:

He knows all his letters, capital and lower case.

He can count to 30 with a little help. He can count to 21 all by himself.

He can spell his name along with some "at" words (cat, hat, bat, sat, fat, mat).

His vocabulary astounds me - he probably learns on average at least 2 words per day.

He loves to play basketball and is very accurate with his shots.

He eats a good breakfast and lunch but usually skimps out at suppertime.

He typically sleeps about 2-3 hours at a time for his naps. About once or twice a week he doesn't take a nap - his choice, not mine.

He LOVES m&m's.

He now has a new sentence he uses often - "Let me talk." When I'm on the phone and he wants to get a word in (to me or the other person on the phone), that's what he'll say. Then he rambles on and on, filling his time with laughter, random words and often actually saying what he's done that day.

He can tell the story of "The 3 Little Pigs" and "Goldilocks and the 3 Bears" fairly verbatim to the way I tell him those stories.

He's really into reading a book called "I'm a Big Brother" by Joanna Cole. He wants to read it when he wakes up, when he goes to sleep, when he takes a nap and pretty much anytime he sees the book. He loves it! I often hear him tell himself that story. I'll hear phrases like, "Mommy loves me. Daddy loves me. I'm the only me in the whole wide world" and "Babies are too little to talk, too little to walk, too little to eat pizza and apples and ice cream" and "I can keep our baby warm and cozy. I'm a big brother now!" It's so cute! He can go through the whole thing saying the exact words on each page. I'm working on getting it on video. :)

He's discovered Curious George and loves reading the books we have (about 5 of them) and sometimes watching the cartoon on TV.

He can say his sister's name - he calls her Melia Jayne :)

Fun videos

2011-08-01T16:54:00.000-04:00

Xander loves watching Cars 2 clips on youtube! Here are two of his favorites, plus a music video.

Xander goes around saying, "Francesco is triple speed!" - accent included :). He also says, "Xander is triple speed!" Ha!

"Magic" Markers

2011-07-29T11:11:00.000-04:00

Have you tried Crayola's Color Wonder markers and activity books yet? They're great! Not to sound like or be an advertisement, but here's the quote from their website:

"Crayola Color Wonder products offer mess-free coloring fun. That's because Color Wonder products feature colorless inks and paints that show up like magic on special Color Wonder paper. So color stays on the paper - not on your child!"

Xander hasn't been too fond of coloring until now. I bought him a "Cars" Color Wonder coloring book and allow him to color on the living room floor. With regular markers and crayons I only allow him to color on the kitchen table. Now that he can color wherever he wants he's much more excited about it and I'm happy he's honing his fine motor skills!

Encouragement for Friday

2011-07-29T11:10:00.000-04:00

When You Need to be Strong

I look at the days ahead and wonder what they hold.
Don't we all?
And then these words make their way to my heart:

"Go in the strength you have...am I not sending you?"
Judges 6:14

We don't have to...
wait to overcome our weaknesses,
complete the ten point improvement plan,
figure everything out.
The strength we already have is all the strength we need.
Because we have a limitless God within us who loves us.
As is.
And He promises to stick by us.
All the way.

-Holley Gerth

Spontaneous Combustion?

2011-07-28T18:23:00.000-04:00

The definition of spontaneous combustion:

the ignition of a substance or body as a result of internal oxidation processes, without the application of an external source of heat, occurring in finely powdered ores, coal, straw, etc.

In this case etc. means bird. It's so hot outside that apparently birds are spontaneously combusting in my front yard.

Excitement

2011-07-28T13:04:00.000-04:00

Xander can be so animated sometimes - here's a video that makes me smile. :)

And this one makes me laugh!
Hope David isn't too mad that I posted it - he's just being a good dad. :)

Beach 2011 - Part 1

2011-07-27T15:59:00.000-04:00

I'm so behind! We've taken two beach trips this summer and I'm just now getting around to posting a few pictures from our adventures. My apologies and more to come. :)

Daddy, Xander & Grandpa at the Aquarium

Mommy, Daddy & Xander at the Aquarium

Slightly blurry...

Aunt B

Grandpa & Xander

It's a long video, but worth it. In my opinion. :)

The Avetts

2011-07-27T08:37:00.000-04:00

Here's an awesome article about the Avett Brothers and their newest song. They're on CMT unplugged!

I have such fond memories of the Avett Brothers concerts. I've definitely been to more Avett concerts than any other band - I've probably seen them live close to a dozen times. Mine and David's first date was at one of their concerts, we danced to one of their songs as our first dance at our wedding reception, we drove to Raleigh and back in one evening for a concert (I felt really old after that one), spent two New Year's Eves at their concerts (one while I was very pregnant with Xander), they're from Concord (about 10 minutes from our house), and they're just way cool! :)

Cars

2011-07-21T16:34:00.000-04:00

So, Xander has some new favorite toys. A few weeks ago Mimi bought Xander a little Lightning McQueen and Mater for Xander to play with. He fell in love! He hasn't fallen so hard for a toy since Scout. This is big, y'all. Well, David has been so excited that Xander loves these cars. As David said to me, "I just want to go out and buy them all because he loves them so much and it's so fun to buy things for him!" This is really the first time that Xander has enjoyed something we can actually go out and get him. So, let me tell you, David has. When we were at the beach (the first time) David came back from a solo shopping trip with 2 cars for Xander - a complete surprise and Xander was thrilled. At the end of that week we went back to the Disney store and let Xander pick out 2 more by himself (and David bought Mac to go along with them). Here are some pics of Xander playing with his cars.

Xander and his cars.

The line-up

We went back to the beach last week. Xander had his first theater experience - we went to see Cars 2. It was so fun! He did such a great job! He was quiet, attentive, and ate his weight in goldfish. I tried popcorn with him, but he wasn't a fan, so I was glad I'd brought a back-up of goldfish. He absolutely loved seeing the movie. Grandma went with us and Xander alternated between my lap, grandma's lap and his own seat. He wasn't fussy, wasn't loud and didn't embarrass me (I was really expecting that last one -ha!). We prepped him by watching the following trailer on youtube a gazillion times. :) Xander couldn't get enough of it!

So of course, after seeing the movie, David had to buy Xander a Francesco. It happened to come in a 2-pack with Shu Todoroki. And he really wanted to get Luigi and Guido (Xander calls him "Pit Stop" - that's funny if you've seen either the first or second movie). Luigi and Guido happened to come in a 4-pack with Uncle Topolino and Lightning McQueen. Whew! What am I going to do with these boys? Oh, right, I'm having a little girl soon to tone down the testosterone. :)

Family Ministries

2011-07-18T09:16:00.000-04:00

I am so privileged and proud to be a part of Ridge Church. I serve in Waumba Land - the ministry for children ages 0-5. Last night we had a training that I was happy to be a part of. My friend, Patrick, is the Director of Family Ministries and he spoke to us about the value of what we do. His talk was fantastic! It was encouraging, inspiring, motivating and valuable. He spoke of the importance of our time with the children each Sunday, but more importantly, the partnerships we make with the parents who have exponentially more time with their children than we do. Here is the verse he referred to:

Hear O, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hand and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9

I am a teacher in Waumba, but more importantly I am a parent now. I want this truth to be on my heart and I want to impress it on my children. I pray that everything I do - my interactions with them, with David, with family, friends and strangers, my actions, words and works, my work ethic and service - will show my children this truth. I also pray that we will talk about loving God, pray together, serve together, etc. I ask God to give me the desire and willingness to share my heart with them, my heart that loves the Lord sincerely. I'm not perfect and I don't claim to be - I'm a work in progress. Through Christ I can do anything and I pray that I will impress this commandment on their hearts in such a way that they will live it out, be in relationship with Jesus Christ and glorify God with their love.

I'm excited to partner with parents and love on kids so that they know God. I love seeing my son come home from church and sing the songs we sang together in Large Group. It's the sweetest thing! I love praying with him before bed, saying "Amen," and a few second later he'll say, "Let's pray again." I'll ask him what he wants to pray for and he'll name someone he loves (usually Grandma, Grandpa, Mimi, Papa, Aunt B or Daddy) and we'll pray for them together (even if we prayed for them already that same night :)). I love that my child is learning about Jesus at such a young age. I'm so thankful to be a part of Ridge Church and so glad that the people there care about my son and his relationship with Jesus, too.

Thanks, Ridge!

What's in a name?

2011-07-16T16:26:00.000-04:00

I love names. I enjoy knowing the meanings of names and whether people are named after a family member, friend, celebrity, etc. I like the story behind a name.

My name is Emily Grace. I was going to be Sarah Grace. I'm Emily because my dad decided he didn't want Sarah at the very last minute. My mom, in near-panic, told him to pick a new one because we'd be leaving the hospital soon. He liked Emily, so he chose it. My middle name comes from my grandmother, my dad's mom. Her middle name was also Grace.
Emily means "Industrious, to strive or excel."
Grace means "grace of God."
I like my name.

David's name is David Goulding. He was named after his grandfather whose name was also David. For many generations the names Harry and David were alternated - David's great-grandfather was Harry, his grandfather was David, his father is Harry, and he is David. His dad actually asked us not to name our son Harry, for which I was thankful. I can't imagine having a son named Harry. David's middle name, Goulding, is his mother's maiden name.
David means "beloved."
Goulding, well, the only thing I could find on Goulding seeing as it's a surname is that it means "Gold" or "slope where marigolds grow."

Xander's name is Alexander David. He was named after his daddy, the best person I could think of to name our son after. I hope he grows up to be just like him. Handsome, smart, kind, generous, sweet, loving...
But I digress. David and I agreed wholeheartedly on Alexander, as long as he would be called Xander. David's not real fond of Alex. We both liked the name Alexander, so we chose it. I really like what it means.
Alexander means "defender of mankind."
David means "beloved."
Our son is the "beloved defender of mankind." Awesome.

Baby girl's name is....

Amelia Jayne

That's the one.
We've chosen it.
And we love it.

Our daughter is named after two of the most loving and amazing grandmothers ever. David's mom is Amelia and my mom is Jayne. It's perfect. We couldn't think of anyone better to name our daughter after. These women who have been such integral, amazing influences in our lives. The women who've been there for us, cared for us, given us love, support and comfort. Plus, they're best friends. How awesome is that? And amazingly enough, the name Amelia is a variation of Emily. That's pretty darn cool.
Amelia means "Industrious, to strive or excel."
Jayne means "God is gracious."
I LOVE this name.

God is so, so gracious.

Oh my gymnast!

2011-07-07T17:47:00.000-04:00

I love this baby I'm carrying inside of me. In my eyes she's already perfect. I can just imagine her little fingers and toes, her beautiful little mouth, the little coos she'll make that will melt my heart. I love being a part of her forming - she needs a vessel to grow in and I'm the privileged carrier! How amazingly wonderful! Her little love taps and hiccups and larger love pushes have already won me over...

But sometimes I wonder - what is she doing in there?!? I really wish I could show you how it feels. I've been sitting at my desk (at work) for about the last 5 hours. With the exception of an occasional trip to the bathroom, water cooler, or quick errand around the library, I've been sitting the majority of the time. She has been going non-stop for the whole five hours! She's doing flips, kicking her legs and flailing her arms. I often think she's really practicing gymnastics. Or maybe she'll be a wrestler. Who knows. But she's certainly working on something in there.

Waumba Land

2011-07-06T08:35:00.000-04:00

Xander at church - lounging. :)

Busy, busy!!

2011-07-06T08:26:00.000-04:00

It's such a busy season, but a fun one, too!

In the past 6 weeks we've:
celebrated with friends the births of two precious little babies,
gone on a beach trip with the Little fam for a week,
gone to the lake three times,
celebrated three birthdays,
had two doctor appointments and two ultrasounds,
had two baby showers (for other friends)
and loved living life! Whew!

In the next six weeks we will:
go on another week-long beach trip this time with the Walkers (my fam),
go to the lake a couple more times,
celebrate three more babies being born,
paint Xander's new room and get it ready,
have two more doctor appointments including the gestational diabetes test,
do some things around the house to get ready for baby girl,
and RELAX! All while loving life. :)

Amidst all the fun and chaotic moments we forget about that last part, the relaxing bit. I've been running around so much that I certainly feel the need for it! In fact, I think I'm going to treat myself to a prenatal massage during the next six weeks!

Encouragement for Friday

2011-07-01T16:06:00.000-04:00

Today is in God's hands and so are you.

His hands are strong and will uphold you;
His hands are great and will enfold you;
His hands are gentle and will embrace you;
His hands are protective and will cover you;
His hands are reassuring and will quiet you;
His hands are powerful and will defend you;
His hands are parental and will train you;
His hands are masterful and will conform you;
His hands are compassionate and will care for you;
His hands are healing and will renew you;
His hands are calming and will comfort you;
His hands are giving and will bless you.
The hands that hold you will never let you down.

-Roy Lessin, DaySpring co-founder and writer

I like to clap!

2011-07-01T15:31:00.000-04:00

These are kind of blurry - I was stopped at a stop light and quickly snapped these shots. Anyway, Xander has a favorite song that he sings at church called "I Like To." It goes like this:

I like to clap every day

because I know He loves me.

Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

etc...

The song also mentions liking to jump and dance. Clapping is easiest in the car. :)

Boat experience

2011-07-01T15:27:00.000-04:00

I am so behind! These are pics we took at the end of May/beginning of June. We've been to the lake house, swum in the lake and ridden on the boat several times since then, but here I am finally getting them posted!

Aunt B and Xander driving the boat.

Mommy and Xander driving the boat.

Love doing fun things with my little boy!

I think the boat makes him sleepy - he kept looking like he would fall asleep!

We are so blessed that David's parents allow us to use their lake house and amenities (boat, jet skis, floats, kayaks, canoe, games, etc.) pretty much whenever we'd like. We have so much fun there! Xander absolutely loves the water so this is one of his favorite places!

Pool time

2011-06-21T15:06:00.000-04:00

I wrote this last Friday, but have been so busy I'm just now uploading the videos! There's one more video, but I had issues so hopefully I can share it later. :)

Xander and I are going to have a fun summer! David pulled out Xander's baby pool from last year and they had a blast playing in it a few weekends ago. I have been intending to take Xander out in the mornings, but these past couple of weeks have been so busy and hectic that we haven't had time...until today! He got really excited when I told him we were getting in the pool. I took him out right after breakfast (so much for not swimming on a full stomach, right? Ha!) and I didn't think about it still being a little chilly. It probably wasn't even 70 degrees outside yet, but he didn't seem to mind! Our backyard gets really hot in the afternoon with the sun beating down directly on our patio. However, the mornings are great with relatively little sun in the backyard. I try to protect Xander's sensitive, pale skin, so I figured this would be a good time. Here are a couple videos of our morning activities, and two of Xander's favorite things - singing (he doesn't have much of a tune to his song yet, so he's really more like saying) the alphabet and throwing the ball in the hole!

Encouragement from Holley Gerth

2011-06-15T14:53:00.000-04:00

For such a time as this…
You're here, now, in this moment, and it will never come again.
For such a time as this…
You're changing diapers, tying the shoelaces of the future, growing the seeds of strong faith.
For such a time as this…
You're working in that office, speaking up in that meeting, doing what you do with excellence.
For such a time as this…
You're reaching out a helping hand, taking time to listen, brightening someone's day.
For such a time as this…
You are wherever you are, doing whatever you do, and it matters more than you know.
So keep it up, friend.
You really are making a difference.

--Holley Gerth

I believe...
I believe today will be a good day because God made it.
{Psalm 118:24}
I believe I have all I need to accomplish His purpose in my life.
{2 Peter 1:3}
I believe nothing is too difficult for me because nothing is impossible for the God who lives in me.
{Philippians 4:13}
I believe even the biggest challenges in my life can be redeemed for my good and His glory.
{Romans 8:28}
I believe I am loved just as I am and called to become even more like Jesus every day.
{Hebrews 10:14}
I believe that He isn't finished with me yet and is able to complete the good work begun in me.
{Philippians 1:6}
I believe I am an overcomer, more than a conqueror, and nothing will keep God from carrying out His plans!
{Romans 8:32-39}
Can I get an "amen" or a "yoo-hoo"?

--Holley Gerth

Apology

2011-06-15T14:03:00.000-04:00

I have to apologize for my lack of pictures and videos of Xander lately. I've just been terrible about capturing the moment. I also have lost my battery charger for my camera - not good. My biggest hindrance these days (besides my tiredness) is that every time I pull out my phone to photograph or video Xander he "wants to see the baby" as he says. He can't wait for me to capture the picture and wants to see it before it's even been taken! So, my goal over the next few days is to take some pictures and/videos of Xander. I think David may have a couple on his phone that I can get my hands on.

We're going to the beach next Tuesday, so hopefully I'll have ample opportunity to take pics and videos of that little man. Just pray that I find the battery charger for my camera before then!!

Be cheerful!

2011-06-08T19:41:00.000-04:00

I have a new goal for this week: Be cheerful!

I tend to think of myself as a pretty positive person. I'm usually the optimistic, glass half full, Pollyanna-type. Lately, not so much. No one's said as much to me, but I feel that way about myself, so I've adopted this verse:

Proverbs 15:30
A cheerful look brings joy to the heart; good news makes for good health.

I LOVE when people smile at me! When I smile at them and they smile back, or better yet when they smile first. It's certainly infectious and I love it. I also don't like to be the complainer, therefore, I am going to try and share good news instead of things that make me feel yucky. Why would I want to bring other people down? So, here's to following through with my goal.
Here are some quotes about being cheerful :)

I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition.
- Martha Washington

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn`t come as a result of getting something we don`t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”
– Frederick Keonig

“Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.”
– Groucho Marx

‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops – at all -
- Emily Dickinson

Don't just pretend that you love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.
Romans 12:9,10

Parenting

2011-06-08T19:24:00.000-04:00

I love this post from Tasha. I certainly need to remember these important words of advice while parenting my child (and soon, children!).

I find myself losing patience a lot more easily lately. Xander has taken to calling my name. Well, not really calling it but yelling it. Constantly. Even if I'm in the same room as him. I hear it easily a hundred times a day. "MOMMY! MOMMY!" Even if I answer him after the first yell or tell him, "I'm right here, buddy. What do you need?" He still continues. And he doesn't usually even want anything, just practicing my name...and yelling. I've asked him to use his inside voice, I've given him more attention, I've given him less attention. Now I've honestly started ignoring it. And sometimes I get stern with him because I'm so annoyed. Do you ever have days like this? I really would like to remember that little voice and cherish these moments because they won't be around forever, but really?!?!

Maybe it's the pregnancy thing making me lose my patience or maybe it's the being human thing. I'm not quite sure, but I do know I need to remember this:

Love is patient and kind.
1 Corinthians 13:4a

Ultrasound experience

2011-06-03T15:32:00.000-04:00

I wanted to post about the experience my family had when we had our recent ultrasound. It started out like this:
Xander and I got to the hospital (where my doctor's office is) and I called David to see how close he was. I got his voicemail. Xander and I went on in and after I signed in and did some paperwork I texted David to see where he was. I got an almost immediate call from him saying his alarm for the appt. didn't go off, he had been pulled into a meeting and lost track of time, but that he was on his way there. As I was talking to him on the phone the unltrasound technician, Joyce, called me back to the room. I hung up with David, walked to the door and told her that my husband was on his way and asked if we could wait a few minutes. She said she could maybe wait about 5 minutes, but really couldn't wait longer than that. I understood. She's on a schedule. But I really didn't want my husband to miss this experience!

I was planning on David being there to hold Xander so I didn't know what I'd do with him while laying on the table. Joyce said he could sit on a bench (halfway across the room) and I told her I didn't think he'd go for being that far from me in a dark room. I ended up scooting over as far to the edge of the table as possible and he sat beside me while I held on to him. She waited about 5 minutes and then said, "I'm sorry but we're going to have to start now." I said I understood even though my heart was so sad that David wasn't there yet. She put the gel on my belly, got her instrument thingy (don't you like how technical I am?) and started the scan. Xander was fascinated. He loved watching the screen and was fascinated with all the buttons she was pushing on the machine. She told me that the cerebrum was forming correctly and about that time there was a knock on the door. It was my nurse bringing David in. I was so relieved! He walked over and took his place beside me, got Xander (who said, "It's Daddy! Hi Daddy!" when he walked in the door) and Joyce continued. She told us the liver looked good, the heart was good, and everything seemed great!

At one point Xander said, "It's a triangle!" He was right. The shape of the ultrasound looks like a cone, very triangular in shape. :) He also said, "It's a baby. The baby's in the water." This absolutely fascinated me. I've never talked to him about the baby being in water. The ultrasound is black and white so it's not like it really looks like water. However, there is definitely a "swimmy" feel to the video and you can certainly tell it's a baby.

She asked if we wanted to know the sex, we did, so she said, "I better do this before this baby moves on me." Joyce actually had to jab my belly a few times to get her to move around. She told us to look at the screen, showed us her parts and said, "It's a girl!" I had my doubts - it wasn't nearly as obvious as it was with Xander, but I trust her. David had a huge grin on his face, I started to tear up and Xander just kept staring at the screen.

Once we were in Dr. Ward's office (my ob whom Xander calls "Dr. Word" - ha!) he told us that the baby is breech right now, so they weren't able to get a good scan of the baby's spine. They have no cause for concern, especially since her head looked normal, but they like to have actual photos of the spine, so we'll have another ultrasound at the next visit. I'm excited because this should've been my last ultrasound and I just love seeing the baby move around! It's a blessing to have another ulstrasound and to get to see my sweet baby girl one more time before I meet her in person!

Ready for potty training?

2011-06-02T15:12:00.000-04:00

I've had a lot of time to think about this next step. A little over two years, to be exact. Hmmm. I'm still not ready. I don't even know if Xander's ready, but I'm so nervous about this step I can barely even get myself ready! I've been doing some research and came across a website that seems to have some good tips and helpful suggestions. I think I might be a little more ready now.

First I'm going to stock up on big boy underwear (with some of his favorite characters like Elmo and Lightning McQueen). I already have a big box of pull-ups thanks to my generous mother-in-law. Maybe she was giving me a hint? ;) I think I may also buy some of the waterproof training pants. I've read that it's easier for the child to tell they're wet and then also to become uncomfortable and want to use the potty. Xander already has a little potty, but he's almost outgrown it! Let's just say when he sits down, certain parts are NOT aimed in the right direction...and really can't be because it won't fit! It also doubles as a foot-stool, so we'll still get use out of it when he washes his hands. Instead of using that for potty purposes, I'm going to buy a potty chair that fits over the big potty.

I think I'm going to attempt the three-day potty training method also known as the Naked Method. This requires him being naked for pretty much three days and I don't know if I can handle that. :) This could be an adventure. First, I think I will show him his underwear, let him wear them and talk about going to the potty, etc. He already knows what a potty is for, goes in with both David and me when we go, knows the right potty words, and hates wearing a diaper, so I'm hoping that's good enough preparation to help him along this journey.

Wish me luck! Any words of wisdom from you moms and dads out there??

We found out Xander's going to have...

2011-06-01T16:52:00.000-04:00

...a baby sister! Xander either says he's having a baby "mister" (what we captured on video here) or he's having a baby "grill." We can't wait for that "little grill mister!"

Interesting info...

2011-05-27T12:58:00.000-04:00

Today is National Wig Out Day!

"The Library Journal posted an article about Charlotte Mecklenburg Library last week. It outlines what the library system has gone through over the past couple of years. A very long article, but from what I can tell as an employee, very accurate. It's been a roller coaster, that's for sure.

Here's a Kindergarten Readiness Assessment by Dora to see if your child is ready to go to school.

My baby is about the size of a bell pepper! Not Xander, the new one. :)

I read today's section in The One Year Book of Praying Through the Bible. Here is the prayer I read and one that I hope will bring you comfort. I pray this for the people of Joplin and the many other places that have been devastated recently.

Lord, you are the God of all comfort. How grateful I am. I pray that your unfailing love will comfort those who need it and that your tender mercies will surround them. These dear ones need your Spirit's tenderness today. May they experience you in the midst of their pain, and please touch them with healing today.

"God's mercy is boundless, free, and through Jesus Christ our Lord, available to us now in our present situation." - A.W. Tozer

Now let your unfailing love comfort me, just as you promised me, your servant. Surround me with your tender mercies so I may live, for your law is my delight.
Psalm 119:76-77

Xander's favorite apps

2011-05-27T08:19:00.000-04:00

People often comment on how well Xander uses the iPad and iPhone. He's been using my iPhone since he was about 10 months old and has used my iPad from the day I got it. It helps that Apple makes very intuitive products, but I do think Xander is pretty gifted when it comes to technology. Probably most kids are these days - there's just so much of it around!

Here are a few of Xander's favorites:

Elmo Loves ABCs (for iPad only) - this is his newest favorite
Scout's ABCs - see my earlier post about this one
My First Puzzles
Itsy Bitsy by Duck Duck Moose
The Wheels on the Bus also by Duck Duck Moose
Forest Friends
I Hear Ewe (he doesn't care for this one much anymore, but this was the first app I got for him - it's free.)

But probably more than anything (except possibly Elmo) he loves to play ANGRY BIRDS! Yes! That is one of his favorites and he can play it for (probably) hours (if I let him). He plays the original Angry Birds, Angry Birds Rio, Angry Birds seasons, even the free versions! He loves it!

Overwhelmed

2011-05-26T14:23:00.000-04:00

I've learned a valuable lesson in the past couple of weeks. I'm NOT super-mom. I wish I was. I strive for that and sometimes even long for it. But I'm just not. I have to remind myself of this often and give myself credit for the things I do right. When I do things wrong, my goal is to learn from these mistakes and move on. There's no point in beating myself up or living in the past. Tomorrow is always a fresh start. This very moment can be a fresh start!

I think I really realized this almost two weeks ago. David was out of town and I was trying to do everything for everybody, but I just couldn't do it. I had gone to church on Sunday and was supposed to attend service at 9:30, serve at 11, stay afterward to set up for BabyD, eat lunch with the gals and their kiddos, make sure everything was ready, stay for BabyD at 5, leave at 6, and get home around 6:30. How in the world was I supposed to do all that with Xander? I didn't have David to help me watch him and I didn't think through all the small things that turn out to be big things. First of all, David was out of town and had been for 5 days. Xander missed him and was struggling with not having Daddy around. Xander hadn't napped well all week due to scheduling conflicts. This was a bad combination. Anyway, the day did not turn out the way I planned. I ended up serving at both services, Xander saw me multiple times and finally on the fourth time he broke down because I wasn't coming to get him. I ended up leaving after serving for the 11am service and didn't go back. I didn't help set up for BabyD, I didn't help out during it or clean up afterwards. I felt awful. I felt awful because I knew I couldn't be everything for everybody, but I really wanted to be! I'm weak and I realized that. It's so hard to admit that - weakness. I don't like to and I wish I didn't have to, but the great thing is that God's grace truly is sufficient.

⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10, New International Version)

Earlier this week I was talking to my bestie, Isabel. It hit me - why am I so hard on myself? Why don't I give God a little credit, let him have the glory and delight in my weaknesses so that his grace can shine through? She reminded me that not only do I work part-time, take care of my husband and child and the house we live in, serve at church, maintain relationships with friends and family, but I also have another very important job right now. I'm growing another human being inside of me. That's a big job and one I forget about on occasion. I don't really forget I'm pregnant, but I do forget how much that can take out of a woman!

My week typically looks like this:

Monday

twice a month I have a meeting with women from church to discuss curriculum and gather materials, usually a half to all-day meeting
clean
all this with Xander while attempting quality time with him
dinnertime once David gets home around 5:30
family time until Xander goes to bed around 8
misc. chores/time with David
bedtime at 10

Tuesday

errands
clean
all this with Xander while attempting quality time with him
dinnertime once David gets home around 5:30
family time until Xander goes to bed around 8
misc. chores/time with David
bedtime at 10

Wednesday

small tasks in the morning
meet Mimi or Grandma for lunch and drop off Xander
work until 6
small group from 7-9 (or 9:30 or 10...:))
bedtime at 10

Thursday

work all day
date night

Friday

work all day
pick up Xander
short time with Xander before bed at 8
misc. chores/time with David
bedtime at 10

Saturday

Usually full with miscellaneous tasks/activities

Sunday

church
serve every other week at church
time with family

That's a full schedule! And of course I have to find time in there to spend time with extended family, friends and other commitments that pop up. I have to remember that I'm not really a stay-at-home mom. Because I work two and a half days out of the week I have to schedule my time so that I spend good quality time with Xander while I'm with him. I don't want to constantly be cleaning, doing chores or grocery shopping when we're together. However, those things need to be done, too, so I have to prioritize depending on the week and what all is going on. It's a tough job!

I love being a mom and wife more than anything else in this world. I never knew how hard it would be or how rewarding it is at the same time. I certainly couldn't do any of it without God's grace.

Scout

2011-05-25T14:46:00.000-04:00

Xander has fallen in love...with his stuffed dog, Scout. This dog is absolutely his first love. He takes Scout everywhere! He wants to sleep with him, take him to the store, take him outside (which I quickly and firmly denied since the first time he went outside he was covered in grass), eat with him (also not a good idea - Scout sits far away from Xander when he eats), and ride with him in the car no matter where we're going. He keeps tabs on him, too, and needs to know where he is at all times. He loves this dog!

Scout is made by Leap Frog and is pretty darn cool! You can plug him into the computer and program him to say your child's name, load in his favorite food, color and animal, and then Scout will talk and sing to him. You can also choose songs without words - some of Xander's favorites are "Jingle Bells" and "She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain." He sings songs about your child, too, tells your child he loves him, etc. All your child does is push the buttons on Scout's paws. It's great!

David and I got Scout for Xander's first Christmas in 2009. Xander really didn't care much about him at the time, but we've kept him in the toy bin. We pulled him back out about two months ago and Xander hasn't put him down since!

I learned early on that Scout's sounds have to be turned off when Xander goes to sleep. One night he was up until about 10pm (when I was headed off to bed) just listening to Scout talk and sing to him. When I put Xander down to sleep I tell him that Scout has to go night-night. I'll go in the next morning and Xander will say, "Wake up, Scout! Mommy, turn sounds on."

Xander will give Scout spontaneous kisses, hugs and tell him "I love you, Scout." When Xander brushes his teeth at night, we have to take turns with Scout. He also pretends to feed Scout different foods. It's so funny!

I bought an app for my iPad that's called "Scout's ABC Garden." Xander loves to play that game, mainly because he gets to see his friend, Scout, or Scout's female counterpart, Violet. We also have a Leap Frog video that Grandma gave Xander called "Numbers Ahoy." Xander calls it "Numbers A-boy" and asks for it most mornings. He has the Leap Frog "Leaptop," too, which allows you to program emails and information on it. Scout runs that show, too.

Some might call it an obsession, but I prefer to see it as love! It could be worse. At least he's learning things while playing with Scout. Educational toys are the best!

Funnies from the little man

2011-05-24T12:06:00.000-04:00

Me: "Xander, where does mommy work?"
Xander: "At the yabbity." (yabbity means library)
Me: "Where does daddy work?"
Xander: "In his car."

I never thought about it, but we rarely go to David's office, yet every morning we talk about Daddy going to work and Xander always mentions his car and oftentimes we watch him drive away. It only makes sense that Daddy works in his car. :)

Xander loves basketball. As in, he's obsessed. He will make anything into a basketball and use anything as the ball. He always talks about "putting it in the hole." The other day he had a little ball and his stacking boxes. Each of the boxes has a letter on it. David and I were sitting on the floor with him when he said, "Put it in the A-hole!" I didn't think I would stop laughing over that one.

He's so used to electronics and toys that make sounds and move on their own, that he doesn't really "get" old-fashioned toys that don't do those things. This morning he called me in the living room and said, "Mommy, fish stick!" (which is what it sounds like when he says, "Mommy, fix it!"). He was playing with some tractors that he got from Mimi and Papa. They don't move without you making them and they make no noise. I told him that it's fixed and that these toys don't make noise. He said very matter-of-factly, "Needs batteries."

Xander has quite the memory. I tend to talk to him (probably incessantly) when we're together, especially at the store or when running errands. We went to the grocery store together a couple of weeks ago and I was trying to remember that David had asked me specifically to get some sausages to grill out and some grapes for his lunch. I kept telling Xander, "Don't let mommy forget. We need to get grapes and sausages for daddy." Yesterday we were at Costco together and out of the blue Xander told me, "Get sausages for daddy." I started laughing and told him, "Thanks for reminding me, buddy." :)

All the babies...

2011-05-13T12:50:00.000-04:00

My friend Crystal just announced her pregnancy a couple of weeks ago. I'm so excited for her! I have so many friends who are pregnant right now. Out of five couples in my small group, one being Crystal and one being me, four of us are pregnant! Here's the break-down of all my close pregnant friends, when they're due and if they're having a boy or girl:

Julie - June 4 (not finding out)
Angela - June 17 (girl)
Veronica - July 29 (boy)
Amanda - August 15 (not finding out)
Lisa - Sept 2 (not finding out)
Kristen - Sept 14 (girl)
Naphtalie - Oct 2 (boy)
Emily - Oct 30 (I find out at the end of May!)
Crystal - Nov 8 (?)

This is not even to mention all the other people I know how are pregnant including my neighbor, tons of facebook friends, and a few of David's friends! It must be the time of life I'm in for all these pregnancies to be happening at the same time. So much fun - but so crazy, too!

Naptime Nosebleed

2011-05-13T12:49:00.000-04:00

Sweet Xander. I woke him up from his nap the other day, only to find this:

I look back over the pictures and they don't really seem that bad. I'll tell you, though, it seemed bad when I turned on the lights! I didn't know what had happened! After checking him over from head to toe, I realized it was a nosebleed, thank goodness. Poor little guy!

You're the reason I believe in love.

2011-05-13T12:40:00.000-04:00

"From This Moment On"
From this moment life has begun
From this moment you are the one
Right beside you is where I belong
From this moment on

From this moment I have been blessed
I live only for your happiness
And for your love I'd give my last breath
From this moment on

I give my hand to you with all my heart
Can't wait to live my life with you, can't wait to start
You and I will never be apart
My dreams came true because of you

From this moment as long as I live
I will love you, I promise you this
There is nothing I wouldn't give
From this moment on

You're the reason I believe in love
And you're the answer to my prayers from up above
All we need is just the two of us
My dreams came true because of you

From this moment as long as I live
I will love you, I promise you this
There is nothing I wouldn't give
From this moment
I will love you as long as I live
From this moment on

Okay, I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I like this song by Shania Twain. However, it popped in my mind this morning and I couldn’t get it out of my head! I instantly started thinking of David and how this song really reflects my feelings for him. I love him so much! But how amazing is it that our heavenly Father loves us even more! That got me thinking about how so many love songs can be sung to our Lord and Savior. Read the lyrics again and think about that. As much as I think of David when I read these lyrics, I can’t help but think of Jesus even more and the joy He’s brought to my life.

I’ve been missing David the past couple of days. He left for New Orleans on Wednesday and won’t be back until Monday. I really miss him and it’s only been two days. It seems silly, but then again, many of my feelings seem silly these days. However, I realize when we’re apart how thankful I am when we’re together. I love him so much. He’s my best friend, my confidante, my supporter and my love. I praise God for the gift He gave me in David.

Dinner with friends

2011-05-11T14:50:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, some friends of ours, Veronica and Sabino, came over for dinner and an afternoon of fellowship and fun. We had a great time! It was so nice to have them over and enjoy their company. They brought me some flowers for Mother's Day, David had brought me some that day as well, and he had bought a bouquet for Veronica, too! This year is kind of her first Mother's Day although next year's will be even better! She's six months pregnant right now, so we'll meet Caleb Alexander at the end of July.

Veronica and Sabino brought Xander a stuffed Elmo that's bigger than he is! I can't believe I didn't get a picture of that. I'll have to get one soon and post it. Xander absolutely loves it! In fact, it's in his bed right now. I have a hard time lying in his bed with him at night because of that stuffed monster!

Sabino marinated some beef ribs and shoulder that he and David grilled outside. It was awesome! We had hummus and carrots, a salad, some couscous, and bread to go with it. Then we had brownies for dessert - David and Sabino's favorite!

It was so much fun. I'm glad to have such great friends. Some pics of the food and flowers are below. Next time I'll think to get pics of the people too. :(

Concerns

2011-05-06T08:52:00.000-04:00

I've had some concerns recently about having a second child. I'm very excited and can't wait to meet this baby face to face and kiss those little hands and toes, but I know this time around will be completely different. This time I have Xander. I know it will take time for Xander to adjust to a new baby - we'll all have to adjust. I also know this new person will change my relationship with Xander. Not necessarily in a bad way, but I know it will change. And that's been really hard for me to deal with lately. I love my little boy. And I love the relationship we have. Many people's concerns are that they won't have enough love for their second child. Everyone I've talked to says their love doubles instead of splits. I'm not concerned about loving this new baby - I already do and I know that this child will be special, too. I'm just worried about the way my relationship with Xander will change. I won't have as much one-on-one time with him. I won't be able to meet his every need in the instant that he "needs" it. He won't be able to count on me in the same way that he's used to. And then I think about how good that might be for him. And for me. It's good for him to learn patience and putting others first. But what hard lessons those are to learn, especially for a two year old! But what better time to learn, I guess, right? I have a difficult time seeing my little boy sad and I'm so afraid that by having this second child that I'll be causing much of his sadness. I hope that won't be the case. I hope he falls in love with this baby just like I have.

I found this article by Jennifer Bingham Hull on staying close to your firstborn once the second child comes along. She shares some good tips. There's another article on the same website called Second Child Survival Tips. I'm also considering buying her book, Beyond One: Growing a Family and Getting a Life. She seems pretty down to earth, and the way I've been feeling lately I sure could use some encouragement!

David has been really great about all of this. I'd been holding in all of these feelings and not sharing them with anybody, not even David. The other night I was so upset and I broke down, telling David about all the fears I've been having and how hard it is for me to think about changing Xander's life so drastically. The thing I love about sharing these feelings with David is that no one else can understand this like he can. The only other parent Xander has is David. He knows our son as well as I do and he knows me, too. I'm not saying he understands me, but he knows me. :) And his encouraging words helped me feel like we can do this. We're going to be together and so we'll do this together.

Big Boy Bed update

2011-05-05T11:42:00.000-04:00

Xander's still doing really well with his big boy bed. He loves it! He's slept in it every night and I've only put him back in his crib for one nap in a week and a half. That day I knew he wasn't going to sleep but I needed a few minutes to get some things done and I had no way to keep him in his room. As of Saturday, we now have that worked out. We bought child-proof door knob covers and attached them to the inside of his doors (he has two).

On Saturday I worked and David had Xander. David had put Xander down for a nap when I called to check on them. David said he couldn't hear Xander and figured he must've fallen asleep. After we got off the phone David went to check on him. He found him driving his toy car in our bedroom! Apparently he decided he didn't need a nap and would rather play in Mommy and Daddy's room, his favorite place to play. :)

Thankfully he hasn't figured out the door knob system - either how to work it or how to take them off. I give that about 6 more months, but by then hopefully he'll be a little more obedient about staying in his room.

On Monday night, for the first time, he asked to sleep in his crib. (We're not taking it down since we're going to use it for the new baby in the same room and move Xander to his new room.) I explained to him that the crib is for babies and his big boy bed is for big boys like him. That satisfied him and he didn't want to sleep in the crib anymore. I personally think it was his way of making excuses to stay up a little longer. He's getting pretty good at that, too. :)

Conversations

2011-05-04T16:50:00.000-04:00

I'm not having twins, but I kind of wish I was if only to see them have a conversation like this.

Baby appointment

2011-05-04T14:07:00.000-04:00

Xander and I went to the doctor on Monday to check on the baby. Xander was so good! I really couldn't have been prouder of him. He sometimes acts out or gets really clingy when he's in a new place with people he doesn't know, but he was actually very friendly and didn't have a problem with the strangers at all. I was so pleasantly surprised.

We got to hear the baby's heartbeat and all is well! My blood pressure is good. I've been a little concerned about that because I'm not taking any meds for it this time, like I did with Xander, and the doc said he will keep an eye on it in case it gets high. I've had chronic hypertension for a few years and went off my meds to try to regulate it with exercise about a year and a half ago. It's been good since then, but I wasn't sure how pregnancy would affect it. So far, so good!

I go back to the doctor on May 31 and we'll have an ultrasound at that time and hopefully find out the sex of the baby! I can't believe it's coming up so quickly!

Xander still doesn't have much understanding of what this is all about. He still points to his own tummy when I ask him where the baby is, but he's at least getting used to the idea of us talking about a baby. I've been holding babies as often as I can in front of him. I'll have a lot more practice with that soon since my friends Angela and Veronica are due in June and July, respectively. I can't wait!

Outside times

2011-05-03T16:48:00.000-04:00

We have enjoyed this beautiful weather immensely! Church on Sunday was actually at the park. Our building wasn't available on Sunday, so we decided as a church to have fellowship time in the park. It was gorgeous! We all brought picnic lunches, played volleyball, threw footballs and kicked soccer balls, played on the playground and visited with all our friends. It was a great day.

Yesterday when David got home we went for a walk as a family. Xander and I had already walked to the pond once that day, but it was even better since we had Daddy. Xander loves pulling his wagon and being pulled in it.

We've played "in the hole" countless times over the past few weeks. That's what Xander calls basketball, his favorite sport. He has a miniature goal outside that he plays with anytime he can.

Today we met Daddy for lunch at work. His building has a rooftop deck that has furniture and a nice view of the Panthers stadium. Xander loves it! We ate out there and then walked around for awhile. Xander wanted to "take a walk" so he kept making us walk from one end of the roof to the other. There really wasn't a much better option for a "walk." Xander and I swung by the park near David's office after lunch. He had such a great time and was such a big boy! He did everything by himself like he was an old pro. He's growing up so fast!

Xander told me this morning, "Mommy, Daddy, Xander together." I said, "Do you like it when we're all together?" He said, "I like Mommy, Daddy, Xander together."

I couldn't agree more. :)

Generosity

2011-04-28T13:20:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking a lot about C.S. Lewis lately. I really don't know why, except that I was reminded of this story the other day as I was walking down the streets of uptown Charlotte.

Walter Hooper remembers walking down St. Giles with Lewis when he stopped to give money to a beggar. "Aren’t you afraid he’ll spend it on drink?” asked Hooper. “Well, if I kept it I would.” said Lewis. He told the younger man that his rule regarding beggars was “When in doubt, give.”

I remembered this story because a man approached me as I was walking to my car after work one day last week and asked me if I had a minute. I said sure and he continued. This man was dressed in a white button-up shirt and tie, with nice slacks. He told me that he had been released from prison 6 days earlier and was trying to do some kind of work program. He showed me his completed paperwork and certificates of completion, but told me he had to get across town and couldn't find a way there. He'd been to the library, but they didn't have any more bus passes for the day. He'd walked to the police station but they don't give out bus passes. He asked me if I could spare some money for a bus pass. I asked him how much he thought he'd need and he said he needed to make three trips and each one would cost $2.25. I actually had cash on me (which is extremely rare these days), so I pulled out a 10 and asked him if that would be enough. He was so thankful and said, "That's more than enough! I might even stop and get a soda." He continued to ask me if I knew the Lord and I said I did. He said he could tell because of my generosity.

The crazy thing is that the moment I walked away I thought to myself, "I hope he's really going to use that money for good." But what does it matter? The story of C.S. Lewis immediately flooded my mind and I was reminded that God is good. It doesn't matter if that man was an awesome con artist or if he truly was a man in need. He asked me for something that I could easily give him, so I did. I think Jesus would have given it to him, too. And since Jesus is my ultimate role model, I feel good about it.

Conversely, a few weeks ago, David, Xander and I were walking in uptown Charlotte and a man approached David and told him that he hadn't eaten in a day and a half and wanted to know if David would spare some change. David didn't have any cash on him, told him that, and we continued walking. It hit me that Xander had a couple bags of unopened animal crackers in his diaper bag, so I turned around and headed back for the man. I pulled the animal crackers out of my bag, walked up to him and offered them to him. You know what he said? "I don't eat animal crackers." Wow! If I hadn't eaten in a day and a half, I think I would eat anything that was offered to me - even livermush or brussel sprouts! Oh well. I tried, right?

"Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindess in your face, kindess in your eyes, kindness in your smile."
Mother Teresa

Jesus makes me happy!

2011-04-26T15:21:00.000-04:00

Easter Sunday was a wonderful day. David, Xander and I went to church where Xander attended the 2-year old class. He's only actually done that one other time which was a bit traumatic for him. When he turned 2 we were hesitant to change him because he had really started looking forward to church and his one-year old class, classmates and teachers. We're a little behind in moving him considering he was two in February, but we knew the time was coming. David and I know how Xander is and that transitions aren't easy for him.

Anyway, in his classroom, they of course talked about Jesus's resurrection, it being Easter Sunday and all. Each child got a placemat that had "Jesus" written on it. They were instructed to put smiley face stickers on the placemats and each time say, "Jesus makes me happy!" We brought Xander's placemat home and he started pointing to the stickers saying, "Jesus make happy!" It was adorable! I found some old smiley face stickers that I had and he put them all on the placemat, each time saying, "Jesus makes me happy!" He got a lot better with the wording as he went along. Now the placemat is on the fridge and he periodically goes up to it and says "Jesus makes me happy!" or he'll take it down and carry it around saying the same thing. It warms my heart to know that he's learning amazing biblical truths!

Big Boy Bed

2011-04-26T15:02:00.000-04:00

Xander spent his first night in his new big boy bed! He did amazingly well! We put him in his bed awake, turned out the light, said goodnight, and didn't hear a peep from him for the rest of the night. In fact, he must have slept well because David and I had to go in and wake him up at 7:30am so he could say goodbye to Daddy before he had to go to work. He's usually awake by 7. Here's a pic I took of him this morning. Forgive the purple sheets. I haven't gotten any for him yet - I'm still trying to decide what color scheme I want for his new room.

Okay, so I realized I have my finger in this next one, but I have to share it because this is actually nap time this afternoon! I'm so proud of my little man!