Life Lately

Life has been busy and fun lately, so I haven’t had a lot of time to blog.  A few weeks ago, my sister-in-law asked to come over for lunch.  I didn’t think anything of it since she does that from time to time.  The reason she came over was to ask me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding this November and also to ask Kiera to be a flower girl!!  I am SOOO excited!!!!  I was REALLY hoping that Kiera would get to be a flower girl and I was totally surprised and elated to be asked to be in the wedding party!  We went bridesmaid dress shopping a couple of evenings ago with all of us girls and it was fun!  We went to the mall instead of wedding dress stores because all we were looking for were simple, knee-length black dresses.  After searching every store in the mall that had dresses, we found them in less than 2 hours!  Tonight, I’m going to a friend’s bachelorette party, so that should be fun.  I’m not staying for all of it though, because I’m still breastfeeding and I tend to get sick if I skip more than one feed.  Blake has bitten me several times in the past 2 days, so I hope he doesn’t keep doing that.  That’s the reason I had to quit cold turkey with Kiera, so I don’t want a repeat of that.  Jared took the day off today, so he has a 4-day week-end which I’m very happy about!  I love family time!  Speaking of which, I’m going to get off the computer and go spend time with them.

One of the Best Suppers

I LOVE having breakfast for supper. I wouldn't want to do that all the time, but I definitely enjoy it. My favorites are pancakes, waffles, and french toast. I've been experimenting with pancakes lately by adding vanilla + cinnamon or vanilla + yogurt to the batter. Today, I made the best ones yet! Jared even said they were as good as IHOP's which is our favorite breakfast restaurant! My Mom picked fresh raspberries a few days ago and I got blueberries a few days ago as well. So, I used a tsp. of vanilla, raspberries, blueberries, and cut up pieces of cream cheese and added all of that to the pancake batter. Amazing! To top it off, I put vanilla ice cream and syrup on them. Totally healthy, I know. My tummy is really happy right now! :)

Gratitude

After a wonderful night’s sleep, I am rejoicing and counting my blessings!  The nights have been up and down lately, but after being up 5 times the night before, I slept in ‘til 10:20 a.m. yesterday when Kiera woke up. :)  Today I am thankful for:

301. Kids who sleep in

302. Babies who pretend to drink coffee

303. Sunshine in the morning

304. Taking the kids to the zoo for the first time

305. A clean house (which I know will get messy as soon as Kiera wakes up)

306. Parrots

307. Warm apple crisp that Jared’s Mom brought us eaten with vanilla ice cream

308. Tigers

309. Jared’s staff summer party which included a bbq, go-karting, mini golfing, and what ended up being the highlight of the evening: bumper boats!

310. Camels

311. That Jared gave his notice at his part-time job and only has one shift left!

312. Peacocks

313. That we will have Saturdays to spend together as a family again as Jared has worked every Saturday except for 2 since last November!

314. Flamingos

315. Pink lemonade, one of my favorite drinks

316. Watching my baby sleep after being fed on my lap in the van

317. Waffles

318. Brushing teeth….or bears

319. Breakfast with my Mom-in-law

320. Baby swings

321. Popsicles

322. Time spent at the park

323. Free car washes

324. Hats that don’t quite fit

325. Bridal showers

326. Office work

327. Play-doh

328. Countdowns ‘til vacations

329. Summer, my favorite season

330. Being comfortable in your own skin

Videos of the Munchkins

I've spent a lot of quality (and quantity) time with my son in the past 12 hours. Last night, Blake broke his record of how many times he woke up in the night (and morning). His previous record was 4 or 5 times and this past night was 7. He was up from 10-11 p.m., 12 a.m., 2:45 a.m., 4:45 a.m., 6:00 a.m., 7:30 a.m., and 8:30 a.m. It's now 11:00 a.m. and both he and Kiera are still sleeping! I'm tired but feel o.k. which is God's grace! I decided to post a couple of videos of the kids from the month of June because of videos of them always make me smile!

That girl's pitch is amazing for someone her age! Definitely a gift from the Lord.

Never a Dull Moment

While we were away for the week-end, we all went out for supper. The restaurant had real animals mounted on the wall like a deer head, bison head, steer head, etc. Kiera was quite fascinated by them and Jared had pointed to one and said, "That's a steer." Kiera kept leaving our table to go talk to other people in the restaurant and to look at the animals. She wanted to touch them, but they were too high. She stared up at the steer (which was very big) and then pointed and said, "That steer is cute!"

2nd funny moment at the restaurant: Blake was sitting in between Jared + I in a wooden high chair. He suddenly leaned forward and let a loud fart rip! It was so loud that the couple at the next table over heard it and started laughing! Oh Blake and his man farts!

3rd sort of funny and embarrassing moment: Kiera was again running around the restaurant saying hi to people. It was time for us to go and she was talking to a waitress who happened to be black. I told Kiera it was time to go, so she said, "Ba-bye chocolate lady!" I was mortified and grabbed Kiera's hand and said, "We're going NOW!" I made a beeline for the door and didn't look back to see whether or not the waitress had heard her. She has said that before to other black people and I have no idea where she got that from! We totally did not teach her that! I know she's not intending to be racist at all, so hopefully people are understanding of that. Kids...you never know what's going to come out of their mouths (or their butts)!

A Week-end Away

The 4 of us along with my Mom went away this past Saturday-Sunday.  Originally, my Dad was going to pay for me, the kids, and my Mom to go visit my sister + brother-in-law in Washington.  They’re too busy right now getting ready to move to a different place, so it didn’t work for us to go.  So, my Dad offered to pay for us to go away for the week-end.  At first I said no because we had just been there in May and I didn’t know how Kiera would do at the hotel, but he insisted, so we went.  It ended up being a really good time!  Our hotel had a great splash park/kiddie pool which Kiera really enjoyed once she got used to it.  There was also a big waterslide going into a deeper pool which Jared + I went down several times.

The kids slept very well, but I didn’t!  There was a wedding reception on the first floor and our room was close to it, but on the 2nd floor.  All I heard was SUPER loud bass from 10:30 p.m. – 1:00 a.m.  BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM over and over for 2 1/2 hours.  I was so not impressed but I decided to use that time to pray so it wasn’t wasted.  I got about 4-5 hours of sleep because I was up with Blake a couple of times in the night as well.  My Mom was in the next room with Kiera and didn't hear the music as much. 

 

The hotel came with $20 vouchers/room that could be used in their restaurant or lounge, so we used it for breakfast the next morning and the food was great!  We did some shopping on Sunday afternoon, but not very much since we had the kids with us.  Kiera enjoyed sitting on the rides at the mall.

 

I bought a pair of black pants for $10 and a t-shirt for $6.  Jared bought some sunglasses at Target and that’s all we bought besides diapers and a few grocery items!  Kiera asked to be a “cool chick” and wear sunglasses just like we were.

When we got back, we didn’t even go home.  We went straight to our friend’s house for games night and the kids did very well until about 9:00 when it was time for bed.  Fun was had by all!

June Blessings

“The more I count these blessings, the more I realize that they really are not the product of my own efforts. They are truly gifts of grace from God above. It’s incredible to open my eyes to them week after week. And humbling. That I should be graced with such wonders? Me… whose heart is weak and black, yet covered with much mercy. How great is Your unfailing love, Lord God of all!” ~Sharaya Crossan

As I look back over the past month, I am so thankful for:

266. Supper at the Olive Garden

267. Cuddling

268. Free car washes

269. Strollers

270. Jared’s new position at work which came with an unexpected raise!

271. Swings

272. Sandals

273. The beautiful nature that God created

274. Eyeshadow

275. Faces that make me laugh

276. Bibs

277. Surprises

278. That Jared mows the lawn

279. Singing

280. Getting together with friends and playing games

281. Overalls

282. Going for a chocolate bar run as a family

283. The joy of the Lord

284. Nacho cheese dip

285. Stuffed animals

286. Chair cushions

287. Pigtails

288. Vitamins

289. Just lounging around

290. Putting nail polish on my toe nails

291. When my son makes me laugh

292. Shelves

293. Our van’s automatic sliding doors

294. Polka dotted dresses

295. That Kiera has been using her imagination more lately and it’s very interesting and entertaining

296. Great parenting books

297. Garbage cans

298. Jeans

299. Computers

300. This hilarious moment while I was in the middle of feeding Blake

Happy 8 Months!

Blake is 2/3 old today, as Jared said. :) New things in the past month:

-He got his first 2 teeth the week-end that he turned 7 months, which I forgot to post.  He got his front bottom teeth

-He is “talking” more

-He has gotten more aggressive in reaching for anything and everything that he can possibly grab.  He’s very strong, too!

-He sits up by himself without falling over (most of the time)

Parenting

I recently signed out a book from the library called "Parenting: From Surviving to Thriving" by Charles Swindoll. I figured I need all the help I can get and I always have more to learn. One of the things that has stuck out to me so far was the interpretation of Proverbs 22:6 "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." He said that the church has often interpreted it as:

"Raise your kids as moral, upright, God-fearing, churchgoing kids. Be sure they learn some verses, teach them to pray, enforce your rules and regulations with consistency and discipline. After all, eventually they are certain to rebel and when they're old, they'll come back to the Lord...but only if you raised them right!" He said that interpretation is not correct. He unpacks that verse word by word as to what the original Hebrew word is and the definition of it.

He says, "Parents commonly think there is but one way a child should go: their way. Wrong!" "The way he should go" in the literal Hebrew is "in accordance with his way." This is talking about the child's characteristics, gifts, and personality. He said the best-kept secret of wise parenting is this: "The job of a parent is to help his or her children come to know themselves, grow to like themselves, and find satisfaction in being themselves."

He says, "Pay attention to your children while they play. Carefully observe what they do, how they do things, and what they enjoy. When you see your children do things well, encourage and affirm them. If children clearly enjoy particular kinds of activities, provide more opportunities to explore them. And as children experiment, give them plenty of room to fail and try something else without calling attention to the mess or criticizing the expense."

His paraphrase of the verse is this: "Cultivate a thirst, initiate a hunger, create an appetite for spiritual things in the lives of children of any age, as long as they are living under your roof, and do it in keeping with the way they are bent - disciplining the disobedience and the evil while affirming and encouraging the good, the artistic, the beautiful. As children begin to grow into adults, their paths will be aimed directly toward the Savior, and they will continue to walk in His sovereignty."

I'm not quite halfway through the book and have already been greatly challenged and encouraged. I highly recommend this book!

An Assortment of Thankfulness

I may have had a tough start to the week, but there are always many things to be thankful for!  Today I am thankful for:

251. Feeling better

252. For massages…it was a wonderful hour!

253. Bridges (this was in Germany)

254. That after 24 hours, Kiera finally ate her vegetables (corn) which I ended up covering in yogurt because she would just spit it out otherwise

255. Streams (this was also in Germany)

256. That Blake has been going to sleep for the night earlier this week (between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m.)

257. The Swiss Alps

258. Diaper bags

259. My cousins

260. The Milan Cathedral

261. The song “It Is Well With My Soul”

262. For the steak that Jared bbq’d for supper on Tuesday

263. Cathedral ceilings (this was in Rome)

264. The 3 Karen Kingsbury books that I quickly read in the past week and a half

265. Adult-sized Jenga