Green Eggs and Windham

New Blog

2009-01-13T21:20:00.004-06:00

I did it. I caved and went over to WordPress.com.

Here's my new blog address: http://lovedlikethechurch.wordpress.com/

To go directly there - A wife loved like the church

Let's face it, I'm a bull

2009-01-10T09:01:00.003-06:00

Once my mother told me that it would take a team of wild horses to change my mind when I was convinced of something. Later in life, Jonathan told me that I'm like a battering ram that just keeps hitting the wall until it falls. I'd have to say, both these statements are pretty accurate. I'm stubborn. I'm bull headed. And the only thing that really keeps me from plowing my way through life (leaving behind helpless victims) is the grace of God.

As of Wednesday/Thursday we decided that we're not finding out whether we're having a boy or a girl.

Can I just say that this is no small issue for me? In my mind, I figured that I could (and would) plow my way through this issue just like I have done many times in the past. My way or the highway. Geez, don't you feel bad for my husband? Out of all the women in the world, he winds up with a stubborn mule. Anyways, at women's prayer on Wednesday I was convicted that I needed to really surrender over my will on the "gender issue" to Jonathan. As an act of obedience to the Lord, I told Jonathan that ultimately my heart's desire was/is to follow him more than to find out the sex of our baby. *Honesty time: What I really meant was "I want to follow after you but still get my way. I'm saying these things because I mean them, but we're still going to find out. Right?"*

God makes me laugh. Because He created me, He knows me inside and out. Ok, Sarah's will is bending, but her heart still isn't one hundred percent. How can I, the creator of Heaven and Earth, ensure that not only do I have my daughter's will, but her heart? Oh, right, I'll just not let her have an ultrasound.

Say what?!

As I am slowing my battering ram down (so that the wall doesn't fall at such a rate that my husband would really notice until after it came down) God reinforces the wall. It turns out that our insurance won't cover our ultrasound. Which means, that if we want to have one, we have to pay out of pocket (which will be over $500). Now, there are some side stories - if my midwife thinks that we still need one we can have one (that is covered) but rather than calling it "routine" it will need to be "medical". However, one of the nurses I spoke to yesterday said that the likelihood of us having one is small, since we've delivered one healthy child, had an ultrasound with this baby, and so far the pregnancy has been smooth.

And of course through all of this I am a calm and collected Christian. Hahaha! I make myself laugh. I'm a bull, remember. I get this news and call every single resource I know of in order to help me take down this wall. I mean, come on, now it's not about the "gender issue" it's about the safety of my child. After all, you can't possibly deliver a healthy child without an ultrasound. The midwife might miss something. I might miss something. The ultrasound is the only way to determine the outcome of my baby.

Or not.

I spent most of Thursday in a bad mood. I won't lie. I was a slight pain in the butt. Perhaps I went from battering ram to one of those oxen they use in running of the bulls - horns out to get anyone. All the same, it took a good 24 hours before I realized that the wall wasn't moving. And that God was still good.

I called my sweet sister-in-law to tell her this most disastrous news. Her response: "Sarah, praise God! Your heart's desire was to follow your husband, and now He made it possible to do so without any temptation or unnecessary debt." Riiight... Not exactly what I was going for, but hey if what she said was what God needed for me to hear in order to get through my bull head, it worked. I started to realize that God is giving me a way out. All the time I knew that I wanted and needed to follow after Jonathan, but in the back of my mind had plans to still find out the gender. I was going to knowingly sin. I was going to knowingly disrespect Jonathan. Wow! Am I a lovely person or what?! Rather than go through all of that, God simply said "No." And I am pretty okay with that. He knows what He is doing. He knows what is best for my life, my child's life, my family. Who better to put my trust in then the Almighty?

"And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you." Psalm 39:7

Truthful Thursday - Job 37

2009-01-08T22:17:00.001-06:00

"We cannot imagine the power of the Almighty; but even though he is just and righteous, he does not destroy us. No wonder people everywhere fear him. All who are wise show him reverence." Job 37:23-24

On to number two!

2009-01-05T15:20:00.004-06:00

I think it's funny how little you meditate on, dream about, and talk about pregnancies after your first. I think it has a lot to do with the newness not being the same, or the fact that you (or at least me) seem to be way to tired and busy to stop and really enjoy being pregnant. Ok, ok, I admitted it. I am one of those crazy ladies who actually enjoys being pregnant. Sure, the sickness isn't all that great, but all the same, there is a tender wonder in having a child growing inside you and I just love it.

At any rate, we've scheduled our ultrasound for the 29th. We naturally wanted to find out with Julia whether we were having a boy or girl. We thought it only natural so we could plan and choose names, etc. However, this time around Jonathan is wanting to wait. He has good reasons why (babe - you can post them in the comments if you want), but again I want to know. I feel like with Julia, it allowed me to form an attachment with her. We called her by her name, I sang her her song (Julia by The Beatles), and daydreamed about what it was going to be like to have a daughter.

What do you think? Should we find out? I set up a poll on the left hand side of the blog so you can give your opinion. Also, even if you think we should or shouldn't find out, what would you do (or have done)? Did you like (or would you like) knowing or not knowing?

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T20:48:00.002-06:00

And all that jazz.

We just got home from Faithwalkers and visiting with our family. It was awesome, but I still need more time to process everything I learned before I send out my thoughts into the blogging world.

On the trip home, Jonathan, Fletcher and I had a long conversation about New Year's resolutions. Good, bad or just plain silly?

I tend to make (and actually keep!) one resolution each year. It tends to be something I have wanted to do but need a good starting point and visible finish.

Here are a few of my past resolutions:

- give up chocolate (did it, but boy was it hard!)

- give up fast food (McDonald's, Wendy's BK, Taco Bell and a handful of others)

- read through the Bible (started off strong, but when I got preggo with Julia is was all I could do to function that reading more than a few verses at a time was nearly impossible)

Does anyone else start (and get pretty close to finishing) new resolutions?

I've got my resolution for this year - journalling. Doesn't sound like a lot, but I haven't done a very good job with it and know that I really need to have in my life. This weekend I'm buying a journal and getting started.

Wordless Wednesday - Christmas edition

2008-12-24T12:05:00.003-06:00

See more at Wordless Wednesday.

What I wish I had know six months ago - A letter

2008-12-20T12:54:00.004-06:00

Dear Sarah,

Right now the world is your oyster. Well, not really, but you feel like you've discovered some new amazing world-saving idea. Cloth diapers. Sure, they are great. There are some benefits that you will love. But let's face it, you need to know the cold hard truth. Who better to lay it out for you then you yourself. Older (only a little) and wiser (actually, that's debatable).

Here goes; When Julia starts pooping like a crazy woman, you will think cloth diapering is the stupidest thing ever. Seems hard to believe, because right now Julia's digestive system is as it's always been. This will change. And you will suffer the consequences. Thankfully you (or do I need to say "I"?) are stubborn as a mule, so despite daydreaming about stopping this insanity you will push forward. In fact, you will set your mind to clothing the need baby (which, I should for warn you, comes sooner than you think).

I know you have a pact with Jonathan that you two will not travel with cloth. But, you will. Rest assured, it will be easier than you think.

Always have a diaper handing when you go out. I cannot stress this enough.

Start buying all of Julia's pants for six months older than she actually needs. The truth is, your daughter will have a ghetto booty thanks to cloth. I suppose she should live it up, since this will never be the case again.

This coming winter will be lots of fun. Julia will really enjoy playing in the snow, however, be aware she doesn't like snow on her face. A word from the wise, layering in cloth = impossible. Don't even try it. You will get half way through bundling Julia up before you will need to strip her down to put on a disposable so that all her clothes actually fit over her bottom.

It's going to be an adventure. One that you will find yourself doing alone more than you know. Julia will get a couple of gnarly rashes, but you'll find a trick for preventing them. Oh, and it turns out, Jonathan can't really handle poopy cloth diapers. Who knew?

Love,
You

Spoiled? Never!

2008-12-15T20:35:00.002-06:00

Not Julia. Jack.

Every morning Jack gets up to an hour (ok, ok, much longer most days!) to snuggle up in the bed covers.

Spoiled? Jack? Never!

I've learned a lot this holiday season, just by going to the mall

2008-12-11T14:08:00.004-06:00

1. That every person over the age of 60 goes to the mall in the middle of the day during the winter.

2. This makes it challenging to find parking when you want to go play at ICM.

3. There is a difference in Christian raised children and world raised children.

4. Julia will consume 6+ ounces of milk in the time it takes me to walk from Target to the play gym.

5. Always have more milk handy.

6. No matter how girlie I dress Julia, some old man always says "How old is he?"

7. Santa scares a lot of kids.

8. A lot of kids scare me.

9. Our economy isn't doing too bad if there was a line out the door at Panera, all the cash registers were packed at Target, and I didn't spot one person without a shopping bag.

10. I am grateful for a wonderful morning with my wonderful daughter.

I knew this day would come...

2008-12-08T19:23:00.003-06:00

And while I am excited, part of me is sad too.

Julia is weaned.

When I found out I was pregnant again, I decided that I would wean Julia before the end of the year. Before I had planned to keep going for a while after her first birthday, but frankly I would like a little rest before the new baby takes over. So as of Saturday, Julia has been taking a bottle with whole milk and not nursing. Things have been good. She's taken well to the change, and so have I. In fact, Jonathan is putting her to bed tonight. Which I think is really, really sweet.

This whole nursing/weaning thing kinda makes me laugh. Especially when I think about this time last year. I absolutely HATED nursing. It was painful, long, and difficult. I had to wear a shield which made it challenging to ever nurse discreetly in public. I begged Jonathan to let me switch Julia over to a bottle. I begged Julia to switch. But deep down I knew that wasn't my heart's desire so I stuck with it. And from day one I counted down the days till she would wean. Eleven months, 2 weeks, and 3 days. Nine months, 1 week and 1 day. Etc. However, some where around 4 months I started to really enjoy our time together. I finally got rid of the shield and nursing seemed to change. Something I hated became something I loved. With this new love came the desire to nurse well past a year, maybe even closer to two.

Part of me is sad that this phase of our mother/daughter relationship has ended. It's a reminder that she is getting older and more independent. But at the same time it's exciting. Not only is this letting me explore other ways to bond with Julia, it makes me feel accomplished. I nursed my child! For a year! Whoa! Sure, sure, I know that WHO would tell me to go longer, but I am thrilled with where we made it and that I kept going despite set backs. Makes me feel like a good mama.

One really great thing: We started giving Julia a bottle to help her wean (I know people have their ideas about that, but it works for us). Anyways, the great thing is that with the bottle we seem to have even more cuddle time. Several times during the say (more than we ever nursed, which frankly was a lot!) Julia will come up with her bottle, sit in my lap and we cuddle. We read books, listen to music or rest together while we are cuddling. And it is a super feeling.

Joy abounding

2008-12-05T09:20:00.003-06:00

I got an email from my friend, Alicia. She sent me the following blog post and I couldn't resist putting it up. Maybe it's because I read it and thought "Whoa, is this lady writing my life?". Really, it seems like you could merely change the gender of the child and you would have my life story from the past 12+ months.

I was shoving my breakfast into my mouth as quickly as possible. My very fussy newborn son, colicky and cranky, was becoming increasingly discontent in his bouncy seat. With my free hand, I grabbed my Recovery Bible to read a quick verse as his squirms and moans escalated. I decided James was as good a place as any to read, and came across these verses in the first chapter:

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

At that point, two minutes into my not-so-quiet time, my son began screaming at the top of his lungs. I took that as his saying that he'd been disregarded long enough and wanted to be picked up. I looked down at my half-eaten breakfast, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Great joy. What an appropriate passage for the current state of my life.

My son, then still a newborn, was high-need from the beginning. Anyone who has a high-need child knows exactly what I'm talking about. It's nearly impossible to accurately describe the "high-need" child unless you have one yourself or have experienced one at length. I'll give you a glimpse into what this looked like in our case.

He was never one of those babies that you could put down easily for a nap or a diaper change, or so you could try and get something done ... well, for any reason. In fact, he generally screamed at the very instant you attempted to lower him into a horizontal position.

Then, at 2 weeks old, he started screaming for no reason we could find. And he wouldn't stop. We eventually learned that he not only had a bad case of colic, but he also had acid reflux that required medication, and he was sensitive to many of the foods I was eating and consequently feeding him. So I went through the long and tedious process of eliminating all potentially irritating foods from my diet. We eventually figured out that dairy, soy, corn, wheat, nuts and most seeds all sent his system into screams of pain.

He was also a horrible sleeper. We tried every trick in the book to get him to sleep better: We tilted his mattress so the acid reflux wouldn't bother him as much. We swaddled him. We rocked him, we played music for him; we put the fan on while he was sleeping for background noise. We tried bedtime routines, reading books, everything short of letting him scream for hours.

I prayed and prayed that God would make him sleep better. I asked friends and family to pray with me. I read sleep books and scoured the Internet for any ideas on how to improve this situation, implementing all sorts of ideas that I thought might help, but my son refused to be wooed to sleep by any of these expert methods.

I eventually realized I should probably be praying that God would give me strength to deal with whatever my son needed. I didn't want to pray that! And the epistle of James was of no comfort. Being sleep-deprived and malnourished, I wasn't particularly interested in hearing about how this trial was producing endurance and perseverance in me, especially after nine months of it.

What made it worse was that in public, he was often a happy go-lucky baby. At church, everyone would exclaim, "What a good baby! What a happy baby!" I wanted to respond, "Well, you should come over to our house later this afternoon and stay for about eight hours." Though I held my tongue, in my heart I wanted everyone else to know how much I was suffering. I also grew bitter and resentful at those around me whom I felt weren't helping me as much as I deserved.

Maybe I expect my faith to come easily. Maybe I've bought into the lie that if I'm living for God, everything will be peaches and roses and happiness. And my friends can be like Job's friends: quick to criticize, assign blame and point the finger, but slow to offer help and encouragement.

There are definitely some things I'd do differently if I had to go through this again. I'd ask for more help. I'd reach out more. I'd read stories in the Bible that demonstrated God's faithfulness, as well as look back on my own life and remind myself of the times God has shown Himself true and strong in my life thus far. I'd pray more "Your will be done" prayers, rather than always just asking for God to change my circumstances.

As I write this, my son has recently turned 1 and still doesn't sleep through the night. In fact, it's a good night if he only wakes up once or twice. And I'm actually totally OK with that. When people ask me if he's sleeping through the night and I say no, they look at me as if I have three heads.

But coming from where I've been, one to two wakings a night is like a walk in the park. He now regularly takes his naps in a bed rather than on my lap or in a moving stroller. His temperament is a thousand times better, and I can tell he's getting enough sleep. He's now pretty easy-going at home and in public, and everyone still comments on how happy and well-behaved he is.

And I'm different. Sure, I still get frustrated. I still wish he slept better and wish I could put milk in my coffee and peanut butter on my gluten-free bread, but my attitude has changed. My prayers have changed. I now pray that God will give me pockets of time to spend with Him. I pray that I would have time to pray. I pray while out walking with my dog and my sleeping son in the stroller. I read the Bible and pray on my knees during those times when he does go down for a nap.

And I have some joy. Not all the time, and I certainly wouldn't categorize it as "great joy," but it's there. I'm definitely learning to be content despite, and in the midst of, this trial.

Trials test our faith. My faith has certainly been tested during the past year, as well as a few times before that, and I'm sure it will be again. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I asked lots of the typical questions, like why God allow our faith to be tested, and how God want us to respond to trials.

These verses in 1 Peter 1:6-7 answer both questions:

So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold — though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

You know what my favorite parts of that passage are? The parts where it says there is "wonderful joy ahead" and that our trials will last "for a little while." This trial will not last forever. I can honestly look back at the various trials I've been through — struggling with my weight, my sexuality, my health — and praise God that He allowed me to come through those things. My faith is stronger for it.

James writes later on in his letter, "God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." Awesome.

Amy Carmichael, a missionary who cared for orphans in India for 55 years, said it best when she wrote, "In acceptance lieth peace." I've found in my life that acceptance is everything. When trials come, I tend to go into fight mode. As Paul prayed for God to take his thorn away, I cry out over and over for God to take my trials away. God has responded to me the same way He responded to Paul: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

So these days, while I still pray that God would do something supernatural in many of my circumstances, I also pray for the strength and patience to endure whatever He allows to come my way. I pray for joy, acceptance and contentment in everything I experience. I pray He would grow me to the point where I will truly consider my trials to be opportunities for joy.

This blog was written by Brenna Kate Simonds.

Truthful Thursday (Thanksgiving Day edition) - Psalm 50

2008-11-27T20:06:00.007-06:00

"Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God..." Psalm 50:14a

The babe is tucked away in bed, we are home from spending the day with good friends, our stomaches are full, and I am thankful.

There are many, many things in my life for which I am thankful;

1. A husband who shows me the meaning of unconditional love daily, no hourly.

2. A daughter who delights my life in a way I could never before have imagined.

3. A family who is crazy but wonderful.

4. A Heavenly Father who blesses me far more than I could ever deserve; who loves me at my worst; who is faithful to me far, far more than I will ever be to Him; who sent His one and only Son to die a sinner's death just so He could spent eternity with me. Whoa.

God is amazing. His greatness humbles me day after day. And while I am thankful that I can spend my earthly life rejoicing in Him, I am even more thankful that I can spend eternity in His presence praising Him.

God, I love you. Thank You for Your goodness and grace, I am undeserving of everything You have given me, from my salvation to my daily life, and that makes You all the more amazing to me. Your daughter, Sarah

Toilet to therapist's couch

2008-11-25T10:15:00.000-06:00

In my quest to start potty training (or at least learning more about it), I have come across very, very strange ideas. One of those is that being potty training before two is a sure fire why to send your child into emotional distress and thus leading to mental therapy later in life. Another (and obviously my favorite) is that diapers are made better and better nowadays and thus we should take advantage of them until the child is entering school (approximately 4-5 years old) and must be potty trained in order to attend. Umm... no.

Now I realize that I have never, ever potty trained someone. I imagine it is difficult and trying on both the mother and child's patience. I can only think that there is a level of self-discipline that moms are called to (in taking the child every 20-30 minutes all day, every day) that I have never known. I am also realistic that potty training doesn't just "happen", especially if the child is very young, and that some children take longer to "get it".

But saying that Julia will be emotionally scarred from the experience, or that I should just let her decide when she is ready, seems bogus to me. I mean, sure, if you are pushing them, making it a horrible experience, I can see the downfall in that. However, if, like all parenting should be, you act in love, patience, gentleness, I would see the experience as enjoyable and even fun. Well, as fun as pooping and peeing can be.

I am currently planning on starting potty training come the spring. I thought that we could start sooner, but that would mean keep the house really warm during the day, and for me to have my act together. I am a little doubtful on that last part. Seriously, if I can let my clean laundry sit in a basket for nearly a week, I don't think I'm ready for a new adventure.

Julia Mabel

2008-11-23T10:04:00.001-06:00

One year ago today I set out on a life changing course. I became the mother to a wonderful, beautiful daughter. Our first months together were rocky, actually, that might be an understatement. I had no clue how to feed, clean, change or care for this tiny life that expected everything from me. Then there was the crying. Endless crying. I mean, I can't totally blame a person for being upset when they have gas, especially when they have never actually used their internal organs. But still, crying babies aren't fun. I don't care who you are, they just aren't. It's a proven fact. And to top that off, if you've read any post on my blog you are all too familiar with our anti-sleep rules. Technically, they aren't Jonathan and mine's, but Julia's. So, roll together complete ignorance, complete dependance, raging hormones and emotions and you will get a new mother.

I can remember thinking that everyone around me seemed to "get it". All the other moms seemed to have their lives together, knowing beyond a doubt what each cry meant, what each grunt would or would not lead to. I felt like I had stepped into a final totally unprepared, with a sense of utter failure.

But God is good. Oh so good.

One year has past. I will never say that I am a perfect mom, but I will say that I am the best mom for Julia. I can read her almost better than I can myself. I know when she is tired, hungry, angry, happy, or frustrated. I understand her "signs" for more, food, and all done. I know that certain situations will delight her, while others upset her past consolation. I have become her mom.

Through this past year, learning who Julia is has not been my biggest feat. More than that, has been learning who God is through me. I am continually humbled and amazed at who God is, who He has called me to be, and how that relationship reflects on my parenting.

I always thought it silly when people said that God wants to be in control of every area of your life, every area of your parenting. But I have come to learn that it is so true. I can tell when I am in control and when the Holy Spirit is in control. I know the difference between Sarah-led Parenting and God-led Parenting. And in those moments I realize that there is no way I can make it without God. There is no way that I can produce a kingdom building, God loving, selfless daughter unless I am that way. And I can't be that way unless I center absolutely everything on Christ. Funny how that circle works.

My life is blessed. My daughter is a blessing beyond what I could imagine. She has been a true delight this past year and I am looking forward to many, many more.

In celebration today, we will be having poppyseed chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and chocolate cake. This is my birthday dinner each year and I am passing it along to Julia. :)

My life in two years

2008-11-20T13:46:00.002-06:00

Today I got to watch my friend, Leah's, almost 3 year old girl, Belle. It was a lot of fun, and gave me a good insight to what my life will look like in two years with a 3 year old and *gasp* 18 month old.

Here are just a few of my favorite moments:

*Choices*

Me: Belle, what would you like to drink? Milk or water?

Belle: Apple juice.

Me: We don't have apple juice. Just milk or water.

Belle: Lemonade.

Me: Water it is!

*Where's your daddy?*

Belle: Where's Jonathan?

Me: He's at work.

Belle: Why?

Me: Well, he works during the day just like your daddy.

Belle: You mean Jason.

Me: *laugh* Yes, Jason.

*Animal or food?*

Me: Belle, do you know what that is? (pointing to a gorilla in a picture book)

Belle: No.

Me: It's a gorilla.

Belle: I eat granola!

Me: *laughs* No sweetie, I said gorilla, not granola.

Belle: Well, it sounds like granola. I eat granola.

After that, I don't think I will ever be able to eat granola again without thinking about gorillas. They really do sound alike!

*Obeying*

Me: Belle, thank you so much for obeying and cleaning up!

Belle: My mom obeys me.

There was more to this conversation (don't worry Leah! I think she was a little confused as she later said she obeys you), but I was rolling on the floor at this point.

Ahh, things are going to get interesting in the Windham household!

Wordless Wednesday - Peanut butter face

2008-11-12T10:50:00.001-06:00

See more at Wordless Wednesday.

Uh-oh

2008-11-11T10:27:00.002-06:00

Every time Julia accidently drops something, hits something or falls down, I always say "uh-oh".

Yesterday she threw something down, I heard it crash, followed by "uh-oh". Totally precious.

Now all morning she's been walking around saying "uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh". I can't help but laugh.

Potty training

2008-11-08T22:34:00.002-06:00

More and more lately I have considered potty training Julia over the next 6+ months so as to have her out of diapers by the time Dubya Dos arrives. In all reality this is a long shot, but some part of me is hopeful that it could be done. And here's why... gory details and all.

A couple of weeks ago Julia was taking a bath. I was sitting next to the tub reading, when she stood up along the side to start interacting with me. I was still half reading, half playing when I realized she was acting a little, well, strained. Immediately I asked "Are you pooping?". Obviously, she gave no answer but a grunt was enough to confirm what I expected. I picked her up, sat her on the toilet where she did her business. A few days later, during a diaper change I caught her pre-poo and dashed off to the bathroom.

Then again tonight we had another random success. We allow Julia to have naked time sometimes after she's just had a diaper change. So tonight during NT I noticed that she was needing to using the bathroom. I sat her on the toilet and she did her thing. Pretty impressive for a 11 1/2 month old. At least I think so.

With these "victories" under my belt, I can't help but wonder if I could feasibly potty train a 1 year old. I've heard about elimination communication, but mostly viewed it with an upturned nose. Now I'm starting to reconsider my stance on EC and toying with the idea of having a few diaper free days, to assess the situation. Hmmm... This might require laying down some plastic all over the floors, or scheduling for Robert to come clean our carpets the following day! We'll see. I always have grandiose ideas that don't pan out exactly as I imagine, and this could just be one of those.

Truthful Thursday - Galatians 5

2008-11-06T09:23:00.000-06:00

"Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed. Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian." Galatians 5:23-25

One of those days

2008-11-04T09:18:00.002-06:00

You know when you have one of those days. A day where you are counting down the hours and minutes until you can crawl back into bed, white flag waving. Yesterday was one of those days.

Julia and I both are suffering from our first "winter" colds. Poor little girl (and poor mama!) woke up at 12:30 am because she couldn't breath through her nose, didn't go back to sleep till close to 1:30 and woke up for the day at 4:45 am. Not quite how I wanted to start my day.

But, in all things rejoice.

As a way to love and support me, Jonathan surprised me last night with:

a bag of M&M's
a hand written love note
a bouquet of flowers
and....

a roll of Christmas wrapping paper.

He's the best.

Truthful Thursday - Luke 21

2008-10-30T13:44:00.003-05:00

"But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives." Luke 21:12-19

My apologies for not posting more on Truthful Thursday. It's not as though there isn't enough truth to post, as there is more than I will ever discover, but just a lack of time on my hands. Today's truth resonated in my mind about losing my "rights" as a Christian. I say "rights" in the terms of how this world defines it. The idea of losing my "right" to free speech, to voice my beliefs is concerning, but Jesus has already told me this would happen. He didn't promise peace on earth, but betrayal, anger, fear, hate, evil. However, he did promise that not a hair on my head would perish (I take this to mean, I will be saved from hell, not that this earthly body will go unscathed). I read this and some part of me, perhaps the daring, fighting Sarah, wants to say "Bring it on, when you mess with me, you mess with God", and I gain reassurance that this world is not my world, this home is not my home. I am merely biding my time until I can go home and see my Father.

But I thought women loved shoes

2008-10-27T17:00:00.002-05:00

Last winter and spring Julia never wore shoes. She was barely sitting up on her own, so I figured there was no need. Then the summer rolled around, she started crawling, pulling herself up, and walking with assistance. Still, I figured it was too hot to wear shoes (as I hardly even wore them) so we went shoeless.

Fall has fully arrived and with it comes the need for shoes. However, convincing Julia that she needs them seems to be a daunting task. Every time she wears her shoes she screams for a good few minutes, tugging at them, nearly begging for them to come off. Eventually she is distracted and doesn't seem as bothered by them, but without fail, she will at some point notice them and freak out yet again. Hmm... This was not an issue I foresaw when doing research on when to introduce shoes.

My one and only post on the election

2008-10-24T14:38:00.004-05:00

You can be a Christian and a Democrat.

You can be a non-conservative and a Republican.

No matter what you think about each candidate, we have an amazing privilege to choose our country's leaders. And for all you women out there - your privilege is even more sacred. Your foremothers did a lot in order to ensure your right to vote and for your voice to be heard. Make sure to live up to their sacrifice, make sure your voice is heard. It doesn't matter if who you want to win wins, what matters is that you took the steps to voice your opinion, to voice your choice.

“Nothing that I can do will change the structure of the universe. But maybe, by raising my voice I can help the greatest of all causes - goodwill among men and peace on earth.” Albert Einstein

Tired, so very, very tired

2008-10-20T21:58:00.002-05:00

We are finally working on Julia's last feeding time during the night. Which means that for the last couple of days, we've been waking up between 4:30-5:30, and dealing with lots of crying and very little sleep. Blerg. However, I am hopeful that we are near the end. That once we get through this last time we are at least on the up and up (hopefully, hopefully, hopefully!) and will be enjoying a few months of peaceful rest before the next babe arrives.

The funny part about it all, is that already Baby Dubya Dos is keeping me up. While, even as I type, my body is completely exhausted, I can't sleep. It seems that during the middle of the night, early in the morning and occasionally during the evening "morning" sickness sets in and keeps me so nauseated that I can't sleep. Total bummer. I try to nap as much as I can during the day, as I have found when I do I don't get as sick. But when that isn't possible night time sleeping seems a little more difficult.

Fletcher just made a Sprite run (ahh! I know it has HFCS, but I'm desperate!) in hopes that it will help settle my stomach. It's done a pretty good job, but I'm gonna need to find a better (and healthier) alternative for later.

Well, here's to trying to get some good sleep tonight!

Wordless Wednesday AND Truthful Thursday

2008-10-15T09:02:00.001-05:00

"Yes, you have been with me from birth; from my mother’s womb you have cared for me. No wonder I am always praising you!" Psalm 71:6

"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed." Psalm 139:13-16

"Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him. Children born to a young man are like arrows in a warrior’s hands. How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them! He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates." Psalm 127:3-5

Go here, for more Wordless Wednesday.

Info on the blog above

2008-10-15T09:01:00.000-05:00

Jonathan and I found out Thursday night that we are indeed pregnant! I am only about 5 weeks along, so things are just beginning. We have our first appointment with our midwife on October 24th. Over the last few days, I've been experiencing morning (rather, all day) sickness and fatigue. I can't say that the fatigue is just because of the new baby, as much as the fact that Julia is becoming more and more mobile and keeping me on my toes.

Please keep us in your prayers: that this pregnancy goes smoothly and babe and I stay healthy, that any fears that might arise in me stay at bay, that our family continues to trust in God through all things.

We'll keep you updated as Baby Dubya Dos progresses!

War. What is it good for?

2008-10-07T15:53:00.001-05:00

I must say that I've been known to be a politically charged person. Being that I am very opinionated, the two go hand in hand. But, if by the title of my post you were hoping for my opinion on this year's election and how I view the Iraqi war, I'm sorry to say you will be disappointed.

However, if you were hoping for something a little more enjoyable, then I have good news.

I recently got Grandma's Wartime Kitchen: World War II and the Way We Cooked from the library. The idea behind the cookbook is to show you how our grandmothers cooked while having their food rationed. I must say I am loving this book!

I just made Swedish Meatballs last week that were an absolute hit. All of the recipes call for items that you most likely already have tucked away in your pantry or fridge, making dinner time just that much easier.

Now, I will let you know, these recipes aren't necessarily "health friendly", given that the desserts call for corn syrup and most of the dinners call for vegetable shortening. However, you can easily replace these items with olive oil, honey, agave or such. Mainly, the idea is to cook with what you have, use all your resources and be mindful of what you eat.

While I enjoy going through different cook books each month, I might be persuaded to make this one a permanent item. It's pretty much the greatest.

Swedish Meatballs

1 pound ground beef
1 cup day-old bread crumbs (about 3 slices) - *Just process the bread to make the crumbs
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable shortening - *I used olive oil
1 1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350*F.
Combine ground beef, bread, egg, onion, 1/4 teaspoon salt, allspice and pepper. Shape mixture into 24 meatballs.
Heat shortening in a 3-quart Dutch oven. Add meatballs and saute until brown on all sides; remove to bowl. Add 1 cup milk to the Dutch oven and bring to a boil. Stir remaining milk and flour together, add to boiling milk mixture along with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Return meatballs to sauce. Cover and bake 30 minutes. Serve from Dutch oven.

Some variations that I made: I don't have a Dutch oven, so I just browned the meat in a regular pan. Then I moved them to a small baking dish. I made the sauce in the pan I used for the meat, then poured it over top the meatballs, covered with foil and baked.

Cha-ching!

2008-09-30T20:12:00.003-05:00

Sometimes I wish I was more frugal. That's not to say that I spend money like a crazy woman, but I don't cut coupons or actively search out good deals. Take clothes shopping. I'm not a super big fan of shopping, so if I find something I like and it's on sale, I'll buy it. However, Jonathan wants to make sure that he is getting the absolute best deal. If there are a pair of jeans for $2 less at another store, he will get those - even if they aren't his favorite brand/color/best size. Me, I don't really care all that much. I just want in and out as fast as possible.

This last weekend, my friend, Leah, sent out a coupon for $1 off organic canned tomatoes. This particular brand is at Wal-Mart for $1.49, but, this month the co-op had them on sale for $1.29 (normally $2.29) - since the co-op runs their sales on a monthly basis (1st-30/31st) I sometimes forget their prices. So, this afternoon I ate lunch at the co-op with Jonathan and saw that the cans were an even better deal there with my coupon than at Wal-Mart. I didn't have the coupons on me, so decided to come back after Julia woke up from her afternoon nap.

I printed off 19 coupons (random number - I thought I had done 20) and went to pick up eggs, milk, yogurt and my discounted cans.

I must admit I felt a little weird with so many cans and using so many coupons. Not sure why, just like I was putting out the cashier or what not. But, the end result was worth it.

19 cans of organic diced tomatoes not on sale - $43.51

19 cans of organic diced tomatoes on sale - $24.51

19 cans of organic diced tomatoes on sale with coupon - $5.51

Total money saved - $38

Sarah's new found joy of saving money - Priceless

I waited 4 years, for this?

2008-09-29T20:24:00.003-05:00

It can't be denied, that when you wait for something, it tends to pay off. Sometimes, sometimes, however, it back fires.

I haven't eaten McDonald's for four years. I went on a McD's fast/boycott after watching Super Size Me. Then from there, I slowly cut out more and more fast food restaurants.

Until this past weekend.

Jonathan, Julia and I went to Tennessee. On Saturday we woke up and decided to grab a good filling breakfast. Now, I haven't been to Tennessee in a few years, but I could have sworn that there were a few breakfast places in town, yet we could not find a single one.

We went to Wal-Mart resolved to pick up some fruit, yogurt and juice. As we passed by the in-house McDonald's Jonathan remarks on stopping there. I flatly said no, we'd surely regret it. But, by the time we were leaving (good foods in hand) we decided we'd just get one of their chicken biscuits.

One bite. That's all it took. One bite to ask myself: I waited four years, for this?

The biscuit was dry, the chicken overly greasy - as it shot grease on the side of my face when I bit into it. Complete let down.

Lesson learned. Now, not only do I boycott McDonald's because one morning sandwich is 20 grams of fat (perhaps that's why I felt sick all day?!), but they are also fail in the tasty category.

So long McDonald's. Fare thee well, may we never meet again.

Truthful Thursday - Proverbs 20, Romans 12

2008-09-25T09:39:00.000-05:00

"Don’t say, “I will get even for this wrong.” Wait for the Lord to handle the matter."

Proverbs 20:22, NLT

"Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say,“I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord."

Romans 12:19, NLT

Wordless Wednesday - Wait... Am I naked?! A story.

2008-09-24T09:25:00.003-05:00

See more at Wordless Wednesday.

Ah, how I have missed you, sweet sleep

2008-09-23T16:13:00.004-05:00

If you remember, I posted some time ago about Julia and her lack of sleeping. By the end of August, we were waking up every two hours, each time resulting in me feeding her, as this seemed the only thing that would get any of us back into bed.

About 2 or 3 weeks ago (time escapes me), we went back to letting Julia cry - which mostly means that Jonathan and I went into the situation both agreeing on what/how/why we were training her. Oh boy. I have to say, I would rather deal with loads of dirty diapers, complete melt downs and just about anything more than crying it out at 2 in the morning. Ugh. Anyways, since Julia was waking up so frequently, we thought we should tackle the first wake up time and then over the course of a few weeks tackle the others.

The first night had everyone up for a good 2 1/2 hours. But, eventually she did manage to fall asleep without being nursed. And granted she woke up like 2 hours later, at least the first session was over. Each night for about a week went pretty much the same, with the crying becoming a little less each time (a little, meaning only an hour and a half). Once we felt we had finally tackled the first wake up time - as Julia was finally not waking up at that time - we decided to start the second one. But of course, she got sick. So everything we had slaved for flew out the window. Bummer. Thankfully, however, once we were back on track, she seemed to either sleep well past her first wake up time, or is easily consoled back to sleep.

She is still waking up twice a night to nurse, around 2 and again at 5. I had set out last weekend to help train her out of the 2ish wake up time, but then realizing that since we are going to Tennessee this weekend, everything will get thrown out of whack, I didn't want to waste my time (or sleep). Once we get back, I fully plan on getting her down to just waking up at 5ish, and then try to break her of that one before she turns 1. Ha! With that last sentence, I am reminded of Proverbs 19:21 "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails."

The other day I realized that I haven't had a full night's sleep in a year and a half. From the time I got pregnant, I would wake up needing to use the bathroom and then couldn't fall back asleep because I was too nauseated. Then, obviously, once Julia arrived, she kept me up. I look forward to the day that I can sleep 8 hours straight. Part of me thinks this is wishful thinking, especially if I have any more children. But one can wish can't they?

To ad or not to ad

2008-09-20T11:37:00.004-05:00

Last weekend Jonathan and I saw this book at Barnes and Noble. Jonathan jokingly said I should figure out a way to earn money from my blog. Ever since then I've been turning it over in my head.

I know people can make money from blogging. I know people would love to make money from blogging. But how do you do it? Really, I've got no clue.

Well today I did a search and came across AdSense by Google. Perhaps the whole world knows about this and I am just finding out. But apparently Google pays you to have ads on your blog. Then, dependent on a number of factors, they will send you a paycheck for some odd sum. From what I have read, the sum is pretty ridiculous. Not like whoa-I've-just-made-a-ton-of-money ridiculous, but will-the-bank-laugh-when-I-deposit-a-five-cent-check ridiculous. But hey, it's money, right?

So, you'll start seeing ads at the bottom of my blog. I've taken steps to ensure that they are in no way offensive or evil. But, if for whatever reason you see one that is questionable, please, please, please let me know. I really don't want it to be like that. I'm not sure how long this will last, but I'm going to at least give it a try while I continue my (possibly unfruitful) search for a money making blog.

Truthful Thursday - Hebrews 12

2008-09-18T09:25:00.000-05:00

"My child, don't make light of the Lord's discipline, and don't give up when he corrects you. For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child...For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God's discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening - it's painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way."

Hebrews 12:5-6;10-11, NLT

When green goes too far

2008-09-18T08:48:00.003-05:00

I keep up with the blog Keeper of the Home. Her most recent post was in regards to an article about women who aren't having children because having children isn't "green". In fact, one woman, Tori, chose to abort her child so as to "save the planet" and not further "burden the world".

Ok, I'm no rocket scientist, but come on people. Seriously, killing a child so you can be green? I'm not really seeing the logic in that one. Alright, sure, people take up space, they use up resources. But, can't you just as easily teach your children to be mindful and respectful of the world God has bestowed upon them? Hmm, part of me thinks that Tori never stopped to consider that, thanks to her mom going through with her own birth, she can make such ridiculous and selfish decisions. I mean, really, if we're going to be that concerned about the effects of humans on the planet why don't we all just leave now?

I'm all for green. I honestly believe that God has made us stewards of the world. I honestly believe that it is my duty as a child of God to ensure that I maintain and preserve the earth. But absolutely no way is aborting helpless children green. It is selfish, hateful and frankly, utterly disgusting.

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate." Psalm 127:3-5 ESV

"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." Psalm 139:13-16 ESV

Wordless Wednesday - Apple Orchard

2008-09-17T09:00:00.003-05:00

See more at Wordless Wednesday.

Best resume ever.

2008-09-16T20:29:00.004-05:00

Here's my friend's first draft. Any suggestions?

PROFESSIONAL OBJECTIVE
Sell my time for highest profit.

EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, IOWA CITY
Bachelor of Liberal Arts GPA: Pending

EXPERIENCE
COFFEE SHOP, IOWA CITY, IA
Barrista May 2007 – Present
1. Serviced grumpy and occasionally unreasonable clients
a. Put up with unwarranted harassment
2. Can make an Espresso Shake
a. 5 scoops of anonymous shake base, 2 shots espresso, cocoa and milk blended on high for 18 seconds.
3. Know a lot about espresso
a. Perfect shot is 24 seconds
b. Crema is what makes shots good
c. Espresso is affected by air temp, humidity and light
d. Espresso is freaking annoying to work with
e. I don’t care if you’ve had it in Europe or not; it’s still annoying to work with

COMPUTER CONSULTING, CORALVILLE, IA
Installation Engineer August 2006 – May 2007
1. Serviced grumpy and occasionally unreasonable clients
2. Custom designed installations on site
a. Roof installs
b. Side of building installs
c. Remote (neither roof nor side of building) installs
3. Learned to solve problems I could not even understand

LANDSCAPING COMPANY, NEW ORLEANS, LA
Landscape Design Artist May 2006 – July 2006
1. Customers include
a. The rich
b. The wealthy
c. The affluent
2. Installed sprinkler systems and grass
a. 8 hours a day in the Louisiana summer
3. Pulled weeds
a. Out of gardens
b. While clients swam in their luxurious pools
c. Then it rained on me.

References available.

Go ahead, laugh

2008-09-13T22:11:00.002-05:00

Last weekend Jonathan told me that he was going to cut his own hair. I started laughing so hard, I had to cross my legs to keep from peeing. Seriously, cut your own hair?! But, he was determined, saying that it couldn't be that hard, he just needed the right tools. So we borrowed a clipper set from Leah and spent Saturday night cuttin' hair. I must admit, he did a pretty good job, only needing my help for some blending and his neck line.

Today I went to have my hair cut and trimmed. My previous stylist is no longer at the cosmetology school where I go, so based on a recommendation I saw a different girl, who is actually pretty good.

I should preface this by saying I am really, really picky about my hair. However, I tend not to actually saying when I don't like something, and when I do say anything, I am a little sheepish. I'm growing out of this and have, especially since I'm dealing with students, learned to voice my concerns and suggestions, but I'm still not all the way there.

Well, today, I told the girl that cut my hair, that while I wanted exactly what I had, only shorter, she should feel free to do as she pleased. So, she went shorter. She also went "choppier", as this is the in style. As she was cutting my hair, I surveyed the room and saw that every one with short hair, had choppy hair. I could see where this was going. I'm not one for "choppy". I like smooth, finely placed hair. I don't want chop. I want smooth. But do I say a thing? Nope.

Since my hair wasn't styled the way I usually do every day, I just figured all would be fine by the time I went home and did my thing. But alas, when I was fixing everything up, I realized that my hair just wasn't doing what I was hoping for. While I think the choppy look is super cute on others, it just isn't for me. I felt like things were all out of whack, even at the insistence of everyone telling me it was fine, just not exactly the same as before.

Around 5pm, I told Jonathan I needed to call the Salon and go back in to have the girl fix my hair. I just couldn't keep it this way, as it would bother me. Jonathan asked if I really wanted to spend the time driving across town just to have my hair fixed to my "perfections". Of course not. But at the same time, I didn't want to wait another 4 weeks until my next appointment. Especially since we're heading to Tennessee in less than two weeks. So, what do we agree upon? To have Jonathan fix it himself. Well, it's only hair, right?. It'll grow back, right? Cut it. Fix it up. Just don't laugh when it's all said and done.

Thus, we spent nearly two hours of our Saturday night cutting my hair. Go ahead, laugh.

I will admit, we aren't pros. But one thing is for sure: it looks pretty good in my own opinion. Jonathan did a really good job. And if nothing else, we had a really fun time doing it.

Truthful Thursday - 1 Peter 1

2008-09-11T09:41:00.000-05:00

"So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies golf - though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains stroung through many trials, it will bring you nuch praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world."

1 Peter 1:6-7, NLT

Wordless Wednesday - Hiefer, the star gazing cow, and her friend Umbrella

2008-09-10T13:26:00.003-05:00

See more at Wordless Wednesday.

Truthful Thursday - Titus 3

2008-09-04T10:14:00.003-05:00

"But - "When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.""

Titus 3:4-7 NLT

Wordless Wednesday - Jail

2008-09-03T14:55:00.004-05:00

See more at Wordless Wednesday.

Not quite what I was planning...

2008-08-31T14:14:00.005-05:00

Am loved more than I deserve.

God rocks.

2008-08-28T16:27:00.004-05:00

You might remember my post on Southern Living versus Midwest Living and how I was lamenting the fact that I was switching.

Let me just say: God rocks.

Shortly after that post I cancelled my subscription.

Or so I thought.

Today I received a we-want-our-money letter from SL for this year's issues. I called them to re-cancel. When the woman on the phone asked me why I was cancelling I told her it was getting too expensive (having gone from free - Thanks girls! - to $12 a year, to $36). Of course, she asked if I was interested in any of their other magazines, and replied, no, that I had just subscribed to Midwest Living (as I live in Iowa) and didn't need Coastal Living.

Then a random turn of events.

She asked me how much I paid for this past year's issues. I said that it had been the in ballpark of $12 for the year.

Know what she said?!

Ok, I can honor that same price for this year too, if you'd like.

If I'd like?! Oh you betcha I'd like!

I am now sittin' pretty with one more year of Southern Living (do worries Jonathan, it was only $11.88!).

God totally answered the desire of my heart! I so wanted to keep my subscription and without even knowing it, He totally made that possible. Had everything been cancelled as I thought, I wouldn't be able to rejoice in knowing just how much My God cares about the little things.

God rocks.

Fifty millions posts rolled into one...

2008-08-26T20:08:00.008-05:00

Not really, I tend to exaggerate sometimes. All the same, I haven't had much time to write lately, so rather than trying to remember several ideas for different posts I'd just much rather write one.

My husband

Jonathan turns 30 in t-minus 4 hours. He is spending his last few moments as a "20-something" sleeping, since he was on Julia duty from 2-4 last night. Ah, what a way to ring in such a momentous birthday. In all seriousness, I just want to announce to the blogging world that Jonathan pretty much rocks. I fully understand that my love for him is different than anyone else's, but still, in case you were wondering, I think he's pretty much amazing. Happy birthday Jonny.*

Mexican Mamacita

I feel that I am fully on my way to becoming a bona fide mamacita. This is something that I have wanted to achieve for quite some time. While I have been able to piece together bits of mamacita likeness, I have not quite captured the mamacita cooking. However, spending the last two weeks with the Mamacita of all mamacitas (Jonathan's grandma) has helped finally (in my opinion) push me over the edge. I've learned how to cook a gauntlet of dishes that would win me much praise among the Hispanics in Texas. My favorite of them has been, drum roll please, Tortillas! I now know how to make flour tortillas from scratch. Even made some tonight! I'm perfecting my technique, but once I feel satisfied with my performance I do promise to teach anyone who wants to learn.

Stuff that piggy

As always, we are still on the quest for helping Julia sleep through the night. Seeing as crying it out didn't favor to well, we're trying a sweeter, more hands on approach. We are stuffing her face like a piggy.

I've started to see a pattern in her morning naps. If she is well feed and has spent an adequate amount of time in the mei tai then she tends to sleep really well (like, say 2 1/2 hours that she did today). So we figured we'd try it out. I carried her for about an hour tonight, then we feed her all the oatmeal and prunes she could handle (1/4 cup dry oatmeal and a 4 oz jar of prunes - not sure how much that makes, as the oatmeal expands when it is wet). Here's to hoping we found something that might work!

How to be green in an ungreen world

Let's face it, Texans aren't known for being green. Unless you live in Austin, your idea of green is... well I was going to say grass, but seeing as it's August that doesn't really exist anywhere in Texas. Needless to say, green isn't the "thing" to do. But, since my sister, Shelly, has voiced her desire to be a little more green, I thought I'd share some ideas for going green in a covert way (like how I used covert, Shelly? That's just for Jesse).

1. Change your cleaning products. No one will really notice this but you, so they can't look at you all funny with their big Dallas hair and say "Well, hun, you sure has changed since you been gone" (said in the best Southern drawl I can manage).

2. Plant a garden. This would be a terrific way to teach Katie and Madeline about their food source and allow them to have a sense of pride when they eat their harvest. I know, I know, it seems like a lot of work, so do something easy. Do a tomato plant or two, and some peppers. Then when you harvest, you can make salsa!

3. Walk more often. In TEXAS?! Yeah, I remember how hot it is. But still, walking not only is a health benefit, it saves on gas. So walk as much as you can. You can even make it a family affair in the evenings after dinner, when it's a bit cooler.

4. Plug your computer/tv into power strips that you turn off after every use. Even when electronics are "off" they stil use energy. However, if you essentially "unplug" them (reason for the strip) then they stop using up energy. This is also important for kitchen appliances, just maybe not your fridge.

5. Recycle and reuse. This might be a little more obvious, since the neighbors will see your recycling bin each week, but it's a great idea. It teaches you to be more aware of the items in your house that are recyclable, it will allow the girls to use their imaginations to reuse items, and it will cut back on your trash every week.

So, those are my ideas for going green in Texas. Hope the neighbors don't kick you out of the association!

*Here's a little ditty for my honey:

Lyrics | Barry Louis Polisar - All I Want Is You lyrics

I'm gonna wash that smoke right outta my hair!

2008-08-19T09:02:00.003-05:00

I love a lot of things about my house and neighborhood. How close we are to the park, the ability to host a number of people, having a fenced in backyard, and having nice neighbors. However, one HUGE downside is that our adjoining neighbors smoke. This pretty much sucks.

They smoke on their back porch multiple times a day, forcing me to shut our doors and windows for anywhere from 10-30 minutes at a time. If we're outside when they smoke we inevitably go inside, because the smoke quickly makes its way over. I think there is some kind of science to that... smoke will always follow non-smokers.

It upsets me a lot, because I don't ever want Julia in the backyard while they are there, and I know that come this time next year keeping her from going out there will be next to impossible. Plus, why should I? After all, it is MY yard.

The good news is, it looks like we will be placing a barrier along our fence line this fall. In preparation for next year's garden, we decided having a barrier would help us maintain the garden while providing privacy and a smoke free environment. While Jonathan and I have bounced this idea around since last summer, we never went through with it, mostly because we didn't want to upset our neighbors. But since Grandma got here and realized my dilemma, she took the matter into her own hands. She flat out told Jonathan and me "you're putting up a barrier, deal with it" - but in her sweet Grandma sorta way.

I realize that some of the smoke will still make its way over (as that is the science of smoke), but at least I can rest assured that it will be much, much less.

After reading the ALA's website, it makes me even happier to know that we are taking every step possible to shield ourselves from secondhand smoke.

Secondhand Smoke Fact Sheet

Secondhand smoke, also know as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), is a mixture of the smoke given off by the burning end of a cigarette, pipe or cigar and the smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers. It is involuntarily inhaled by nonsmokers, lingers in the air hours after cigarettes have been extinguished and can cause or exacerbate a wide range of adverse health effects, including cancer, respiratory infections, and asthma.

Secondhand smoke has been classified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a known cause of cancer in humans (Group A carcinogen).

Secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke. Secondhand smoke contains hundreds of chemicals known to be toxic or carcinogenic, including formaldehyde, benzene, vinyl chloride, arsenic ammonia and hydrogen cyanide.

Secondhand smoke causes approximately 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 22,700-69,600 heart disease deaths in adult nonsmokers in the United States each year.

Nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke at work are at increased risk for adverse health effects. Levels of secondhand smoke in restaurants and bars were found to be 2 to 5 times higher than in residences with smokers and 2 to 6 times higher than in office workplaces.

Since 1999, 70 percent of the U.S. workforce worked under a smoke-free policy, ranging from 83.9 percent in Utah to 48.7 percent in Nevada. Workplace productivity was increased and absenteeism was decreased among former smokers compared with current smokers.

Eighteen states - Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Washington and Vermont - as well as the District of Columbia prohibit smoking in almost all public places and workplaces, including restaurants and bars. Montana and Utah prohibit smoking in most public places and workplaces, including restaurants; bars will go smokefree in 2009. New Hampshire prohibits smoking in some public places, including all restaurants and bars. Four states - Florida, Idaho, Louisiana and Nevada - prohibit smoking in most public places and workplaces, including restaurants, but exempt stand-alone bars. Fifteen states partially or totally prevent (preempt) local communities from passing smokefree air ordinances stronger than the statewide law. Iowa, Nebraska and Oregon have passed legislation prohibiting smoking in almost all public places and workplaces, including restaurants and bars, but the laws have not taken effect yet.

Secondhand smoke is especially harmful to young children. Secondhand smoke is responsible for between 150,000 and 300,000 lower respiratory tract infections in infants and children under 18 months of age, resulting in between 7,500 and 15,000 hospitalizations each year, and causes 430 sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) deaths in the United States annually. - That pretty much scares the bejebbies outta me!

Secondhand smoke exposure may cause buildup of fluid in the middle ear, resulting in 790,000 physician office visits per year. Secondhand smoke can also aggravate symptoms in 400,000 to 1,000,000 children with asthma.

In the United States, 21 million, or 35 percent of, children live in homes where residents or visitors smoke in the home on a regular basis. Approximately 50-75 percent of children in the United States have detectable levels of cotinine, the breakdown product of nicotine in the blood.

Research indicates that private research conducted by cigarette company Philip Morris in the 1980s showed that secondhand smoke was highly toxic, yet the company suppressed the finding during the next two decades.

The current Surgeon General’s Report concluded that scientific evidence indicates that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Short exposures to secondhand smoke can cause blood platelets to become stickier, damage the lining of blood vessels, decrease coronary flow velocity reserves, and reduce heart rate variability, potentially increasing the risk of heart attack. - Just perfect.

Lovely Ladies Dish on the Dish

2008-08-16T13:23:00.002-05:00

I've joined in with a group of my girlfriends to make a new blog all about foods and healthy eating. Peruse on over and check us out!

Lovely Ladies Dish on the Dish

One! Uno! Eins! Un! Um! I love the number 1!

2008-08-14T09:08:00.002-05:00

Why, oh why, would I love the number one?

I am one pound away from my pre-Julia weight!!!

Rock and roll, baby!

Man, this makes me feel like doing a victory dance. Or maybe I should do a victory run?!

Blerg! HFC"S" is at it again!

2008-08-12T21:18:00.005-05:00

About a month ago I came across Blue Sky Soda. Love it. It gave me a way to be off the coke wagon, without being totally off (not that I don't have relapses continually...). However, I came across this tonight. Blue Sky Cola contains High Fructose Corn Sweetener.

Blerg!

Looks like I'll be getting their organic cola next time!

And for a little incentive to give up coke (by coke, I mean, soda/pop) I found this site to be interesting:

Within the first 10 minutes, 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. This is 100 percent of your recommended daily intake, and the only reason you don’t vomit as a result of the overwhelming sweetness is because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor.

Within 20 minutes, your blood sugar spikes, and your liver responds to the resulting insulin burst by turning massive amounts of sugar into fat.

Within 40 minutes, caffeine absorption is complete; your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, and your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream.

Around 45 minutes, your body increases dopamine production, which stimulates the pleasure centers of your brain – a physically identical response to that of heroin, by the way.

After 60 minutes, you’ll start to have a sugar crash.

Completely (and totally) unsure; completely (and totally) reliant

2008-08-10T02:27:00.001-05:00

I think one of the funniest things about parenting is that everything, literally everything, is trial and error. And perhaps by funny what I really mean is, so exhausting that you eventual give up and laugh (notice my time stamp).

Somewhere in the ballpark of 4 months of age, we realized that Julia really, really needed to just cry herself to sleep. I'm pretty certain Jonathan realized this long before I did, but at some point we both looked at each other through sleep deprived eyes and said "It's go time". Here's what I really love about this whole process: Julia seems to take way longer than what I think is humanly possible to catch on to the idea of sleeping. Like, really, isn't sleep natural? Shouldn't a baby just want to sleep? I honestly think she came out of the womb thinking "Mom? Dad? What is this thing you guys are wanting me to do? You seriously expect me to quite down, shut my eyes and sleep? Hmm. No."

From the get go, sleep and Julia seem to have been a struggle (she gets that from her dad, seeing as I can fall asleep just about anywhere and anytime). So, like I said, somewhere around 4 months old we started letting her cry at night. First night she cried from 11pm to 6 am. Ok, does that seem slightly over the top to anyone else? I mean, come on little girl. At some point I really thought she'd give up. But she never did. Impressive!

After some serious tears shed during the day (we had stopped swaddling her at night, but continued to during the day; this made for lots of crying at night and lots of heavy sleeping during the day - like around 6+ hours), Julia finally started sleeping at night. Beautiful!

Then about a month after that, we regressed to waking up twice a night. I blamed it on a growth spurt. Well, if that is what it is, my daughter should be Yao Ming by now! So we went back to crying it out. This time around I didn't feel quite so bad. I figured she'd reached the age where she was mentally/emotionally capable of self-soothing (which happens around 6 months), so a little crying wouldn't hurt.

We're nearly three months into this next crying it out stage. Julia still hasn't grasped that night time is for sleep time, and so we've thrown our hands in the air. Sometime last week (or maybe the week before that... time seems to start to blur) Jonathan and I decided that for the sake of everyone we'd stop CIO. While this means that I'm still waking up nightly (ranging from 1-3 times on average) with Julia, we all at least get to go back to sleep fairly quickly. Unlike with CIO, which lasted 2-5 hours. Each night (well, 5 out of 7). For three months.

But, tonight Julia threw me a curve ball. She woke up around 1am. We nursed, I put her back down, and she starts crying. Sweet. So, I figured she'd really just have to deal with life and go back to bed. I gave her a set time to cry (mentally I did this, I didn't actually say "Ok, Julia, you can cry until such and such time before I come back in here"). But seeing as I can't actually sleep when she's fussy I decided to get on the laptop to pass the time. Fortunately for her, the time was pretty quick. Unfortunately for me, I can't seem to fall back to sleep.

Needless to say, I've come to realize that parenthood really is about having absolutely no clue what you are doing and just really hoping to stumble upon the right answer. For this kid. Since everything changes for the next one. And in the moments that I realize this, it makes me bow my knee before God, pray for wisdom, grace, patience and love abounding, because I know that I am completely clueless and totally reliant upon Him.

100 things about me

2008-08-08T21:55:00.003-05:00

I got this idea from another blog I read and figured that I too, in keeping with tradition, would write a list of 100 things about myself in honor of my 100th post.

1. Mint chocolate is my favorite.
2. I would eat pizza every day if I thought that in any way it would be a good idea.
3. I am from the South.
4. The True South.
5. The True South being below the Mason-Dixon Line.
6. But sometimes I wish I was more Southern.
7. I miss my Southern accent.
8. At least I can make amazing (in my husband's opinion) fried chicken.
9. I really dislike hot weather.
10. But I love Texas (especially Austin).
11. Go figure.
12. I think my husband is the funniest man ever.
13. I fell in love with him on a trip to Italy.
14. But I didn't admit it for another year.
15. Now I admit it.
16. All the time.
17. I went to UT - Austin.
18. I wear that fact like a badge of honor.
19. I loved my time at college.
20. It was a really hard adjustment moving to Iowa.
21. Really hard.
22. But now I love it.
23. And I would be willing to stay here forever.
24. Although I hope God sends us to the East Coast.
25. Perhaps New York.
26. I could be a New Yorker.
27. At least I like to think so.
28. I try really hard to have people like me.
29. I say and act like I don't.
30. But I really do.
31. My favorite time of the day is morning.
32. It's my time to snuggle in bed with Jonathan and Julia.
33. And Jack.
34. My dog.
35. That is treated more like a human than a dog.
36. I know that might be crazy to some people.
37. But I'm that "kind of" dog owner.
38. And I like it.
39. My daughter is the cutest girl I know.
40. I love being her mother.
41. Lots and lots.
42. Even though it kicks my butt.
43. Like all the time.
44. Bath time with Julia cracks me up.
45. I want to always keep a sense of humor.
46. Especially when it comes to motherhood.
47. I love a house filled with laughter.
48. I want to be a Mexican mamacita.
49. You know, the ones that make awesome food.
50. And have lots of babes.
51. Christ is the rock of my life.
52. Without Him I would be nothing.
53. I am grateful that He pursued me,
54. Long before I pursued Him.
55. I am grateful that He gives me grace,
56. And mercy,
57. And love abounding.
58. God is amazing.
59. And I looking longingly for the day I will meet my Savior.
60. It will be awesome.
61. And terrifying,
62. Realizing just how imperfect I am,
63. And just how perfect God is.
64. But mostly seeing Him will just be awesome.
65. I try to read my Bible daily.
66. I fail pretty often at it.
67. I like snacking on granola.
68. I use to make fun of "granola people".
69. Now I aspire to be one.
70. I enjoy watching TV.
71. More than I should.
72. Which is why we don't have cable.
73. We did just get the Seinfeld series.
74. That has been a lot of fun.
75. I wish my life could be like a Seinfeld episode.
76. I have traveled to Europe.
77. Twice.
78. I've been proposed to.
79. Twice.
80. Both times in Europe.
81. The first time it was by a Hungarian.
82. He was old.
83. And drunk.
84. And smelled of cigarette smoke.
85. I said no.
86. But it made me laugh.
87. The second time was by Jonathan.
88. It was in Paris.
89. At Pont Neuf.
90. I said yes.
91. And it made me cry.
92. Happy tears.
93. I love Paris.
94. I wish I could live there too.
95. I would eat cheese and bread.
96. And drink wine every day.
97. I would walk hand in hand with Jonathan,
98. As our kids ran around in the markets,
99. Speaking French and laughing.
100. I like to day dream.

Grace and coffee are my two best friends

2008-08-06T12:13:00.003-05:00

It's been a hard day's night, and I've been working like a dog. It's been a hard day's night and I should be sleeping like a log.

Last night Julia woke up right as I was falling asleep (somewhere in the ballpark of 11pm). After that I struggled for the next two hours to go back to sleep. It was rough. Being the gracious husband that he is, Jonathan got up and stroked my hair until I could unwind enough to fall back asleep. Then Julia woke up about two hours later for her normal nighttime feeding and for the day at like God-awful-six. So, I'm running off of about 5 hours of sleep (or make that 4 1/2).

But God is gracious. He provides continually, giving me strength to mother/wife/sister/friend when I feel zapped. And to top if off, He provides the $1.75 for a large Capanna Full City coffee (with extra Raw Suger and a dash of cinnamon).

Today is going to be a good day. Thanks to lots grace and tasty coffee!

Anniversary Extravaganza 2008!

2008-08-03T13:57:00.004-05:00

Jonathan and I celebrated 3 years of marriage on Wednesday. My, my, how the time has flown! These last three years have been wonderful, challenging, life changing and, let's face it, hilarious (how could it not be when you're married to a guy like Jonathan?!).

Sticking with our tradition we dubbed this year's celebration Anniversary Extravaganza. Now, really, this year wasn't quite the extravaganza we've come to know and love (and my guess is it won't be for a few more years) but all the same it was pretty awesome. Thanks to our good friends, Ambre and Erik, who watched Julia, Jonathan and I went out to dinner and then had massages. The massages were nice, but dinner... dinner was FABULOUS! We went to Devotay in Downtown IC. It is my new favorite. We wined and dined on Amish beer, locally grown veggies, buffalo meatballs and a yummy, yummy cheesy zucchini sandwich (which was hands down the best sandwich I have ever consumed!). All in all, it was a pretty great night. I am super excited to have been a Windham for these here 3 years, and looking forward to many, many more Windham years.

And in the words of Juno, as far as husbands go, Jonathan is totally boss. He is the cheese to my macaroni. And I love him dearly.

Did you hear that?

2008-07-25T14:28:00.002-05:00

That is the silence of a sleeping child.

Julia has been F-I-G-H-T-I-N-G! her naps for the last, um I don't know, ever. But really so this last week.

But as of right now she is out.

And that makes this mama really happy.

Silence is golden.

If they made fortune cookies just for moms...

2008-07-19T14:06:00.002-05:00

While Julia is napping, I thought I'd share some funnies from the latest Parenting Magazine: "If they made fortune cookies just for moms..."

- You will travel over the ocean, and your 3-year-old will use the airplane bathroom 26 times.

- Now is the time to be daring. Take your toddler to the park without a diaper bag.

- You enjoy nourishing your loved ones, but if the peas touch the meat loaf, you can forget it.

- Elegance and grace are your trademark in dress. Also baby spitup.

- Your love life will be happy and harmonious, especially if you remember to lock the bedroom door.

- You will soon find a long-lost treasure, and you will decide to check under the couch cushions more often.

- New friends will come into your life, and they will ask you to run the spring fund-raiser.

- People are entranced by your voice - at least those listening to you read Runaway Bunny for the thousandth time.

- You have a keen mind and an enviable intellect, expect when it comes to third-grade math homework.

- A handsome man has his eye on you - and he's wondering when you're going to make his macaroni and cheese.

How is cloth going.... really.... I mean, how is it going?

2008-07-17T20:03:00.010-05:00

This what my friend, Leah, asked me today. That, my dear readers is a loaded question, and one that I, in fact, asked myself this morning.

So, how is cloth going...

I've come to this one simple conclusion, if you are going to do cloth with your babe (or babes) you have to really, REALLY want to do cloth. It has to be something that you are willing to put in a little extra time and effort. Plus, it helps if you can deal with a little poo. See, me, I have a very high tolerance for all things gross. Blood, vomit, pee, poo, nasty, nasty trash. Low gag reflex, high tolerance. However, if you are like, say, Jonathan, who gags thinking about gross things, then dealing with poo cloth diapers are not for you.

We are still using disposables when Julia sleeps at night (for mere ease and not worrying that she'll wake herself because of being wet) and plan to use them when we travel - as I don't really see cleaning a cloth diaper in the hotel room at Faithwalkers or at my mom's house!

Alright, now to answer the question that I know everyone is thinking. Just how do you "dispose" of the poo?

Step by step: I change Julia, putting the poo diaper on the edge of her diaper hamper. Once she is taken care of, I take the poo diaper to the bathroom and dunk it in the toilet. Using the parts of the none poo areas, I clean the diaper as best as I can. I rinse out the excess water and drop it into her diaper hamper. After which I wash my hands. ***Now, I will say that I do use my elbows for a lot of things during this process as not to touch anything - like the faucet or toilet handle - with my hands until after they are thoroughly washed (I've become even more obsessive about washing my hands since this new diapering adventure!).***

I haven't had to soak any of the poo diapers and they haven't stained, even after sitting in the diaper hamper for two or three days (they don't stay longer than that because I have to wash the diapers every 2-3 days to maintain our supply).

There have been a few minor draw backs in my mind.

First, I never really know when Julia is wet because I can't feel her diaper like I could with disposables. And I really think she needs to be changed at least every hour, hour and a half at the max. More than that and the diaper doesn't absorb like it should. Of course, I could use a doubler/liner but don't.

Second, it did take Julia about a week to adjust to cloth from disposables. She is more aware now when she is wet than she did before. This made for some crying whenever we were out shopping and she peed. She's gotten use to it, and we've even gotten to where she'll wear them for nap time. On the flip side, the good thing about her heightened awareness is that it'll hopefully help her potty train sooner.

Third, is that cloth is a LOT bulkier. This makes for some snug fitting pants, which is a little more annoying since Julia seems to have issues with shorts/bloomers being to tight in her legs, now they are too tight in the bum too.

Ultimately, I am glad we made the switch. I really do love the idea of cloth diapering, I love the look of the wraps, and I really think they are going to be better for everyone (Julia, me, Jonathan, the planet) in the long run. I think that if there is ever a Baby Dubya 2, we will start from the beginning using cloth - hopefully even using them at night but having disposables for ease of traveling. Using them from the beginning will help alleviate any transition period for the babe and will just, in my opinion, be easier in the end. Plus, when the poo diapers are solely breastfed poo, then you can wash them without rinsing them out first. Which is one less step to deal with and makes things easier! And, as my engineering minded husband points out, the money saved is unbeatable. Jonathan figured that we've spent at least $400+ on disposables so far that we can never get back. If that is in, say, 8 months time, then you're looking at roughly $600 a year, or $1200-1500+ for two or more years. Our start up cost for cloth was less than $200, and the on going cost for Julia is sure to be less than another $200. Yet, like I said before, you have to really, REALLY want to do cloth, otherwise I think you'll be far more likely to stop and switch to disposables.

I hope that helps answer any questions for you curious minded people. If not, ask away and I can provide any answer, sparing no poopie detail! :)

These are a few of my favorite things... (sung like Julie Andrews)

2008-07-17T10:09:00.004-05:00

Since we've made some crazy green changes in the Windham household, I've come to have some new favorites that I can't sing about enough. Really, I do actually sing about them. Mostly to Julia who thinks I still have a pretty voice.

1. Lentils. I'm not sure why, but lentils just never seemed all that appealing. But since we're having two vegetarian meals a week, lentils were bound to get into the rotation. So last night I made Curried Lentils with Vegetables. Can I just say "Yuuuummmy!". Man, that stuff was delicious! Thanks to my success with last night's meal, lentils are now making their way to my favorite things list.

2. Curry. Curry scares me. Not the taste, because I love, love, love curry, but actually preparing it makes me really nervous. Whenever I see my favorite Indian dishes I always imagine that it must have taken hours and hours plus years of experience to create such a scrumptous dish. Turns out it just takes curry powder. Ha, who knew?

3. Bummis Super Brite Wraps. Sounds like a food, but it's a babe butt cover. These Bummis' have gussets that help keep the cloth diaper (as well as the contents of the diaper) in the wrap. They are a bit more handwashing friendly then their cousin, Bummis Super Whisper. But the gussets alone were what sold me.

4. DTV. We just got the digital converter box for out TV. Despite the fact that we did actually lose some channels (long story there), we did gain two PBS stations! And since we Windhams love our PBS, it has been a wonderful addition to have.

5. Finally, a picture of three of my most favorite things, ever.

Ready, set, go!

2008-07-12T10:53:00.006-05:00

And she's off!

Julia is offically crawling! About a month ago she started getting up on all fours, rocking back and forth and then *splat*. Well yesterday, I sat her down, started doing something, looked back and she was moving! She's pretty slow, needs lots of encouragement, but she will go from on side of the livingroom to the other.

But wait, that's not all! She's also pulling herself up too!

Pretty amazing stuff.

I will say she looks mighty funny when she crawls, as it is not the traditional knee crawling, but foot/knee crawling:

Good thing we set this up recently:

And here she is pulling herself up:

Monkey see, monkey do

2008-07-09T21:35:00.004-05:00

A lot has changed in me since I had Julia. The way I think and act are all being affected by the idea that this little person is watching me and making her opinions on the world based on my actions. Whoa, that in of itself is a lot to take in, but we aren't going that deep.

Anyways, I really, really, really don't like mushrooms. Like really. And I am of the opinion that since I have given them a try several times and each time have disliked them, then I am free to continue disliking them forever.

But then about 4 months ago the thought hit me that if I don't like mushrooms, Julia most likely won't like mushrooms. You know, monkey see, monkey do. If it's good enough for mama, it's good enough for me. So I set out to start eating mushrooms. Now, I'm not going for full out enjoyment of mushrooms, but rather not picking them out of food. **Disclaimer - Because my mama raised me as a good Southern girl, never, ever in my life have I actually picked out mushrooms when I was served them at someone else's house. That is a major no-no. Just wanted to throw that in there in case mom is reading this!**

Twice now I have cooked with mushrooms. First time I made spaghetti with the canned mushrooms. Bad idea. Very bad. Seeing as my whole complaint is that mushrooms are slimy and rubbery, the last way I want them is soaked in a gross juice to make them even more slimy and nasty. Needless to say, I gagged through most of the meal. And truth be told I did pick out most of them to pass along to Jonathan.

However, I attempted using them yet again tonight when I made veggie pizza. This time I got fresh mushrooms. The recipe called for steaming all the veggies, but I thought "Hmmm... that would make the mushrooms slimy, so let's not do that." Instead, I just cut them up and added them along side the onions. And you know what, I ate all of them!

Sometimes I can trick myself into not thinking about what I am eating and just down it and move on (again, those good Southern graces), but tonight I consciously thought "That is a mushroom and I am going to eat it." Perhaps it helped that they were smothered in cheese, sauce and along side my favorite veggies. But all the same, I am paving a path for my mushroom eating ways.

Next food to conquer: coconut.

Toto we aren't in Texas anymore

2008-07-07T21:18:00.003-05:00

I cancelled my subscription to Southern Living tonight. Way, way sad day.

I am now subscribing to Midwest Living.

Me on the computer cancelling my SL subscription: "This is way sad. Way sad."

Jonathan: "But you're getting something better."

Me: "Yeah, but it's Southern Living. I love Southern Living."

Jonathan: "You don't leave in the South. You live in the Midwest."

Me: "Ahhh! Don't say it! If you don't say it, it's not true!"

Door frame - 1; Julia - 0

2008-07-07T19:42:00.007-05:00

Julia is learning to pull up on things, sometimes she doesn't choose the wisest things to try out her new found skill. Unfortunately, today she lost a battle with the door frame.

The injury (upper left side of her forehead):

The culprit:

After much crying and lots of kisses everything was a-okay.

Did I miss something?

2008-07-04T13:09:00.003-05:00

I recently found out that a good friend of mine from college is moving to 23rd and Lexington in NYC now that she has completed Optometry School. When I first heard the news, there was a pang of remorse that rose up inside me. I have always, always wanted to live in NYC. The traffic, the people, the buildings, the subways, the constant go, go, go, just makes me feel alive and excited. Years ago Jonathan and I were on our New York track. We had planned out how long it would take him to finish school, what types of jobs we could get in New York, where we would live, what an amazing adventure we would encounter. If everything had gone as we planned, I would be celebrating my one year New York Anniversary this summer.

But alas, over Faithwalkers 2005 we both felt that New York was a dream we need to let go. Oddly enough, God spoke strongly to both of us on separate occasions, and neither of us told the other one for sometime afterward. But then one day I blurted out that I felt God was asking me to give up New York and Jonathan agreed. And as strange as it seems, I did really mourn the loss of my dream. I spent another few months pining away, thinking that there must be some way for me to still live there and be in God's will. So far I haven't seen an open door.

Anyways, back to my pang of remorse.

It's kind of shaken me this week, the idea that I too could be moving or already living in New York. I ask all the "what if" questions and start to see my life as less than glamorous. I mean, I'll be honest in saying that for most of my life I never truly thought I'd be a mom, and that if I ever did go down that path it would be much later than now. And I'll state the obvious when I say that there isn't much that is glamorous about mamahood. Sure, people are envious of the cute babies, but the poop, crying, vomit, lack of sanity, lack of sleep, road trips that take twice as long as normal, the continually dying to self. Yeah, I'm not sure I've ever heard someone say "Gee, I just really want a lifelong less in selflessness, I think I'll have a baby!". Yet, that is my life. My life isn't living in an apartment loft off the Upper West Side. It's living across the road from a park where Julia and any possible future babes will spend their playtime. My life is giving my all to my marriage, my family and my God. And it does make me sad that I can't just pick up and take a trip somewhere, or that I can't spend my "weekends" sleeping in, doing as I please, or being able to have a job at NYU or Columbia, or having to constantly be mindful of what I eat because it might make Julia fussy. Yeah, I do want all those things, I do miss the idea of freedom and jet-setting, I do love NYC. But far more than that, far more than chasing after that dream, I love my God. I love my husband. I adore my daughter. And really, if it came down to choosing the Upper East Side loft or the duplex in Iowa with my family, I would time and time again choose the latter.

With that in mind, I am stepping back and wishing luck to my friend. I am choosing to say that God is good for having me here, for allowing my life to be so fully blessed. And who knows, maybe one day I might just move to Manhattan.

Just maybe not the Manhattan that I expected.

No 'poo and cloth diapering update

2008-07-01T14:20:00.004-05:00

I've been doing no 'poo for almost three weeks now. I'm washing my hair with b/s every Monday and Friday and doing a acv rinse every third wash. I've started just putting a small amount of b/s in my palm, adding water and making a paste I scrub on my scalp. The trickest part so far has been figuring out how much acv to use. Everything I read says 1-2 tbsp, but when I do that I find my hair is super oily. The funny part is that it's oiliest in the very front, which is where I first pour on the acv. So yesterday I cut back to 1 tsp acv and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this does the trick.

I will say this much about no 'pooing. My hair really has gotten a lot more compliments! And the amazing thing is, people are complimenting on it even when I haven't washed it in a few days. Sweet! Plus, I barely have to curl/flat iron it, because it's holding onto so much more volume than before. Double sweet!

Now for the diapers...

When I first started reading through the instructions that came with the diapers I seriously thought of returning them. The instructions called for all these expensive detergents that I would have to order online, saying that I needed to completely scrub my washer and never use any other soap than what they recommended, unless I didn't really care that much about my daughter. Plus, I needed special oxgenated detergent that I should use for the second washing cycle. Like the good mama I am, I went off to New Pi to search for these detergents. I figure if New Pi has it, I'll buy 'em. They didn't. Surpisingly, neither did Hy-Vee or Wal-Mart. So I gave up and bought Seventh Generation for Babies. I figured I don't really want to go through all the trouble of scrubbing my washer, buying special expensive soap and oxgenated detergent. I'll stick with a nicer brand when it goes on sale.

Yeah, so that all happened before we even tried the diapers.

The first few times with the diapers were bumpy to say the least. Julia is NOT a fan of being able to feel wet after she pees. And the problem is, even if she pees just a little it's too much for her. The first day I felt like I was changing a barely wet diaper every 20-30 minutes before I just put on a disposible and went on with life. Then this weekend we were traveling a lot and had guests in town, so she spend the majority of the time in disposibles. I would attempt to put her in cloth, but then it would only stay on her for less than an hour before I switched back over to the others.

Finally today, she has spent a good majority of the time in cloth. I even got the joy of changing her first pooping cloth diaper! It wasn't so bad in all actuality. She's adjusting to dealing with being wet longer than a minute (because I really don't want to be changing her every 5 minutes!) and we've set some rules for when to use cloth and when to use disposibles. Since Julia wakes herself up if she gets wet while she sleeps, I'm still going to put her in disposibles for naptime and overnight for mere sanity! Otherwise, I'm hoping that during the day she will be sportin' her ghetto cloth diaper booty.

10 ways (plus 1) that we're going green

2008-06-21T14:49:00.004-05:00

I've been trying to help our family become more green and earth friendly over the past couple of months. It's surprising how easy it is to be green when you put in a little effort. However, I will say that so far the most challenging thing I've faced is being unable to go "all-green" all at once. My personality tends to be an extremist. I like it full tilt or not at all. But this whole green thing does take time to ease into, at least for our family. If it were just me, I'm sure I'd abandon everything, buying only earth friendly things and live in a tent. Since I need to be mindful of showing grace to Jonathan and Fletcher while we transition we're doing things slowly. Ultimately we're getting there and that in of itself is awesome.

So here are the ways we've gone green thus far:

1. Personal reusable shopping bags. Wal-Mart has these really nice black simple bags that are made out of recycled material. They hold a ton of stuff (I have four and that's all I need for all my groceries - and then I normally just need 2, maybe 3), are washable and when folded up, one fits nicely in my purse so I always have one on me.

2. No more 'poo. Thanks to Ambre I have gone head first (pun intended) into the world of no shampooing. Instead I've begun doing a baking soda wash with an apple cider vinegar rinse about every 3-4 days. This is going into my second week, so I'm still working out the kinks, but so far I'm really loving the results. I got the majority of my info from this site.

3. No more paper towels. It seems like our household goes through paper towels like water. So week before last I announced at dinner that I would not be buying anymore paper towels. Needless to say there were shock waves that came over Jonathan and Fletcher. They have been conserving our last roll like it's precious jewels and it's lasted us almost two weeks! Amazing. Now, in place of the paper towels I have gotten 36 hand clothes. They are conveniently placed in the kitchen so the guys will know right where they are and will use them for all their previous paper towel needs. Realizing that there will be times that we need paper towels (for large parties and such) I'm going to buy them on a 1 roll as needed basis, going with Seventh Generation from Hy-Vee or New Pi.

4. Enjoy the heat! I am NOT one for hot weather. Sure, sure, I'm a Texan and so therefore should be completely use to heat. Wrong. I would much rather never sweat, never be "overheated" and enjoy the comfort of cool weather (mid-60's to 70's would be ideal). But, we've started leaving our windows open and running the ceiling fans to circulate cool air. However, I will say that the last two days have been too hot for me and so I've been running the A/C, just at a much higher setting than in the past.

5. Recycle, reuse. Perhaps because I am a snob, I was never one for recycling and NEVER one for reusing. But, I've buckled down and started to do both. And you know what, it's pretty sweet. We throw away a lot less trash and I really feel like I'm doing something good for the environment.

6. Homemade toothpaste. Again, like the 'no pooing this is a work in progress. My reasoning behind it is similar to no 'poo; healthier, better for the environment, cheaper, etc. You use baking soda and salt as the two main cleaning/abrasive agents. You can either add in extracts for flavoring or just do the plain and simple version. There are other methods to making your own dry cleaners, or to making an actual paste. Merely for the ease of it all, I'm sticking with the baking soda/salt combo, doing a hydrogen peroxide mouth rinse. It's not the best tasting stuff, but it's working. I'm thinking of adding in cinnamon since the bs/s/hp doesn't leave me with a I-just-brushed-my-teeth fresh breath feel I like.

7. Homemade soap. I did some research on making your own soap in order to get the right cleansing agents for your type body. I got an olive oil base glycerin that works great for most everyone's skin and some lavender essential oil (which acts as an astringent and supposedly calms and relaxes you). You can buy everything at Hobby Lobby for under $20 and it works great and smells really good.

8. Join a CSA. CSAs allow you to buy your produce straight from local farms. By doing this, you not only support local farms, but you cut down on emissions emitted into the air from trucks driving your food from one side of the country to another. Plus, your food is fresh, organic and yummier.

9. Buy energy efficient appliances. Since the beginning of the year we've purchased an energy efficient washer, dryer and dish washer. Both washers are "smart washers" which means they sense how much water is needed to clean the dishes or clothes and use only the amount of water necessary to get the job done. The dryer does something similar, which is nice because it usually dries a full load in under 30 minutes.

10. Buy good-for-the-earth cleaning products, or make them yourself. See my post, Green clean.

11. Cloth diapers. So I did it. We've purchased our trial set of cloth diapers for Julia. In a few short days I will be washing all her poo. Yeah! For those of you wanting to do some cloth diaper research, check out Green Mountain Diapers. The site is run by a Christian SAHM and it is by far the best site I've found yet.

Free cat to good home. Scratch that. Free cat to any home.

2008-06-20T08:10:00.003-05:00

Yours for the taking: Orange tabby cat, approximately 5 years old. Enjoys hiding from people, meowing, begging for food and hunting. Does not like to cuddle, excessively sheds and has no known redeeming qualities. But, if you enjoy having rats, rabbits or birds for dinner, this cat is purrfect for you. She will gladly bring live rodents to your back door!

Blerg!

2008-06-19T13:16:00.002-05:00

Julia is teething. BLERG! And I have to say it's a pain in my booty!

Her front bottom teeth came in without a fight. Mild fussiness that could be dismissed as a grouchy day. Not so with these top teeth. Oh, no. Those bad boys are coming in and letting everybody and their mamas know it. BLERG!

Perhaps teething for an infant is equivalent to childbirth for a mom. I mean, you are pushing something out of you that seems unholy and unnatural at the time. But once they arrive you can't imagine life without them.

*Blerg, anything bad or upsetting - something used when there is nothing else to say, is a Liz Lemon favorite that I feel it way under used and best describes my week.

Green clean

2008-06-17T11:52:00.003-05:00

We've been trying to go more green in our household cleaning products the last fews months. Clorox has a great new line called Green Works that is relatively inexpensive and good. They are made from plant-based material, and reminds me a bit of dandelions. The test for me with any cleaner is that after I'm done cleaning I don't feel like I have toxins on me and that I would have no concern picking up Julia before washing my hands.

However, my one complaint, is that we get some pretty nasty soap scum in our shower that Green Works can't seem to fight. So far, only super harsh smelling toxic cleaners get the tub back to white, and that's after major elbow grease added on my part.

Until, yesterday. Yesterday I decided to try out some ideas I had read about on the blog Green Parenting. The blogger lists all the household products you can use as cleaners, how much is needed, and what works best for each area of the house.

So yesterday, I pour baking soda and vingear in my tub. I let it set, and WALLA, I now have a super white tub again. I would venture to say if you use the vingear alone, it will do the job just fine, but some part of me liked have the volcano effect of the two ingredients and the extra cleaning power of the baking soda. Also, I found that there was some comic relief in knowing that the connoction I've starting using to washing my hair can also clean up my tub (***look for a no 'poo blog in the future***).

At any rate, here's the list I found and thought I'd share.

SUPPLIES:

VG[inegar]— naturally cleans like an all-purpose cleaner.VGis a great natural cleaning product as well as a disinfectant and deodorizer. Always test on an inconspicuous area. Improperly dilutedVGis acidic and can eat away at tile grout. Never useVGon marble surfaces. The smell disappears when it dries. Helps break down detergent in laundry. Use it to clean coffeepots, glass, paintbrushes, grout, windows and fireplaces.
LJ[lemon Juice] – Another natural substance used to clean your home. Can rot after 2 weeks.
Baking Soda [BS] – Cleaning agent even after used up as fridge deoderizer. Cleans, deodorizes, softens W, scours.
Soap – unscented natural soap in liquid form, flakes, powders or bars is biodegradable and will clean just about anything.
Borax [BX] - cleans, deodorizes, disinfects, softens W, cleans wallpaper, painted walls and floors.
WhiteVinegar [VG]- cuts grease, removes mildew, odors, some stains and wax build-up.
Washing Soda[WS] - or SAL Soda is sodium carbonate decahydrate, a mineral. Washing soda cuts grease, removes stains, softens W, cleans wall, tiles, sinks and tubs. Use care, as washing soda can irritate mucous membranes. Do not use on aluminum.
Ethanol or 100 proof Alcohol & water[RA} - is an excellent disinfectant.
Cornstarch - can be used to clean windows, polish furniture, shampoo carpets and rugs.
Citrus Solvent - cleans paint brushes, oil and grease, some stains.
Murphy’s Oil Soap, Bar Keeper’s Friend, Bon Ami

SOLUTIONS:

AIR FRESHENERS: See Odor.

AIR PURIFIERS:
Benzene: (paint, plastic, ink, oil): English ivy, chrysanthemum, Gerbera daisy
Formaldehyde: (plywood, pressed-wood, furniture, fire retardants in mattresses): Spider plant, golden pothos, bamboo palm, azalea, Aloe vera, Philodendron
Trichloroethylene: (printing inks, paints, lacquers, varnishes, adhesives): Peace lily, warneckei, Dracaena marginata

CLEANERS (Kitchen/Bathroom):
All Purpose:
1. Simplest: 1 p. VG, 1 p. W in a spray bottle
bathtub, toilet, sink, and countertops. stovetop, appliances, countertops. floor. will eat away the soap scum /hard W stains/degrease.
2. Bleach-like: BX and LJ highly effective mixture for bathrooms. Sprinkle this combination on the surfaces of the sink, toilet bowl and bathtub and then scour with a brush.
3. Degreaser: Mix 1/2 c. VG and 1/4 c. BS into 1/2 gal (2 liters) W. Store and keep. Use for removal of W deposit stains on shower stall panels, bathroom chrome fixtures, windows, bathroom mirrors, etc. Degreases & Deoderize.
Mix 2 Tb BS with 1 pnt W in spray bottle. squeeze LJ orVGto cut grease.
Bleach/Lightening:
1. BX, LJ, sunlight
2. Mix a quarter c. of BS with a few c.s of warm W and wash down the outside of white appliances. Allow it to stand for 15 min before rinsing clean and it will help remove yellowing of the appliances and restore the whiteness.
Carpet: Simplest All-Purpose. Let sit 5 min. Scrub.
Decal or Sticker Remover: VG. Really soak it in.
Disinfectant:
1. compound of 3% HPX andVG
2. Mix 1/4 c. BX into 1/2 gal hot W. Use for wiping surfaces.
3. Soap!
4. Dryness. Bacteria can’t live where it’s dry.
5. Alcohol.
Lime Deposits: You can reduce lime deposits in your teakettle by putting in 1/2 c. (125ml) VG and 2 c.s W, and gently boiling for a few min. Rinse well with fresh W while kettle is still warm.
Mildew Remover:
1. HPX
2. White VG full strength. Don’t rinse.
Midlew Inhibitor: BX
Mold:
1. 3% HPX with V
2. Mix one p. HPX (3%) with two p. W in a spray bottle and spray on areas with mold. Wait at least 1 hr. before rinsing or using shower.
Oven:
1. Moisten oven surfaces. Sprinkle several layers of BS and let sit set for 1hr. Rub gently with fine steel wool for tough spots.
2. Salt on Stain when it spills.
Scouring Powder:
1. Apply BS directly with a damp sponge for top of stove, refrigerator and other such surfaces that should not be scratched.
2. Vinegar and Salt. Mix together for a good surface cleaner.
3. LJ andVGand/or BS.
Soap scum/Hard W dissolver: LJ
Toilet:
1. Flush the toilet to allow the W level to go down. Pour the undilutedVGaround the inside of the rim. Scrub.
2. Mix 1/4 c. BS and 1 c.VG pour into basin and let it set for a few min. Scrub with brush and rinse.
3. A mixture of BX (2 p.) and LJ (one p.) will also work. A paste will eliminate stains.
4. Flush. Sprinkle BX. Drizzle over w/V. Leave overnight.
Refinishing Old Furniture: Vegetable Oil Soap, a simple, nontoxic solvent. Follow label directions.
Water Rings on Wood: Moisture is trapped under finish. Try toothpaste or mayonnaise on a damp cloth and rub into the ring. Once the ring is removed, buff the entire wood surface.
Window/Stainless Steel/Chrome:
1. ½ c.VGin 2 c. W
2. 1 c RA, 1 c W, 1 Tb.VG Using Rol and VGtogether makes a quickly evaporating spray glass and mirror cleaner that competes with national brands. a nice shines hard tiles, chrome etc
3. 1/4 cVG 1 Tb cornstarch and 1 quart W.

DISHES:
Dishwasher Cleaner: Pour 1 c. of BS into the dishwasher and run it through the rinse cycle. It will help get rid of some of the grime that collects on the inside of the machine, as well as freshen the smell of the dishwasher.
Dishwasher Detergent: Mix together 1 1/2 Tablespoons of BS with 2 Tablespoons of BX.
Dishwashing soap:
1. Sea salt, LJ, hot W, few drops of orange essential oil
2. Mix equal BX and WS, but increase the WS if your W is hard.
Dishwasher scrubber/stain remover: ½ Lemon w/ BS poured on it

DRAINS/DISPOSALS:
Uncloggers:
1. Flexible metal snake, a plunger, salt
2. Pour 1 c. of BS down the drain followed by 1 c. of hot VG. Wait 5 min before flushing the drain with 2 quarts of hot W. Repeat.
3. 1 C. of BS and 1/2 c. of salt down the drain. Let this mixture sit in the drain for several hours, overnight is best, before flushing the drain with 2 c.s of boiling W..
Garbage Disposal Freshner:
1. 2 T. BX. Let sit 15 min, then run.
2. Citrus peels
3. BS down the drain without rinsing when you are going on vacation or even just a weekend trip. Flush the BS out of the drain with hot W or hot VG followed by hot W when you return.

FLOOR:
1. general: VG, W, 5 drops eucalyptus oil, 15 peppermint, shake
2. vinyl and linoleum: soap. add a capful of baby oil to the cleaning W to preserve and polish.
3. wood: a.)apply a thin coat of 1:1 vegetable oil and VG and rub in well. b.) oil soap
4. painted wood: mix 1 tsp. WS into 1 gal hot W. (see POLISH)
5. brick and stone tiles: mix 1 c. VG in 1 gal (4L) W; rinse with clear W.
6. ceramic tile: Mix 1/4 VG (more if very dirty) into 1 gallon W.

Special problems:
1. black heel marks: the heel mark with a paste of baking soda and water.
2. crayon marks: Toothpaste. Will not work well on wallpaper or porous surfaces.
3. remove grease from wood floors: immediately place an icecube or very cold water on the spot. The grease will harden and can then be scraped off with a knife. Then iron a piece of cloth over the grease spot.

FRAGRANCE: Essential oils. You need a lot to cover the smell of vinegar…eucalyptus works well in small doses, though.

LAUNDRY:
Fabric Brightener:
1. Add a 1/2 c. of BS to the wash when you add your regular liquid detergent. The BS has been known to give you whiter whites, brighter brights, and odor free clothing.
2. LINENS: Add ½ c to wash w/old, age-stained linens
1/2 cup of lemon juice to the rinse cycle
Fabric Softener:
1. ½ c. VG in the rinse cycle. Breaks down detergent.
2. And Odor remover: ½ c. BS in the rinse cycle.
Stain Remover (Clothes):
General:.
1. Rub a paste of 6T of BS and 1/2 c warm W onto stained clothing before laundering. Be sure to check for colorfastness first.
2. BX and W
Acids: Drain Opener, Battery Acid, Toilet Cleaner, VGomit, Urine: Quickly rinse acid spills and then sprinkle BS on your clothing to neutralize the acid and prevent damage to your clothing.
Blood Stains: BS rubbed onto a dampened blood stain can help lift the stain from the fabric.
Crayons in the Wash: Crayons accidentally washed with clothing, there may still be hope. Rewash in the hottest W allowable for the fabric, adding a 1/2 box to a box of BS.
Fruit/Wine Stains: Treat immediately, in a hurry, pour a little BS on, and then later run hot W through the back of the stain.
Sweat: A BS paste. Rub onto the clothing. Tough stains may need to let the paste sit for 1-2 hours before laundering.
Vomit: BS.

METAL CLEANERS & POLISHERS:
Aluminum: using a soft cloth, clean with a solution of cream of tartar and W. brass or bronze: polish with a soft cloth dipped in lemon and baking-soda solution, or VG and salt solution.
Brass, copper and aluminum: Paste of LJ and cream of tartar
Chrome: polish with baby oil, VG, or aluminum foil shiny side out.
Copper: soak a cotton rag in a pot of boiling W with 1 tablespoon salt and 1 c. VG. Apply to copper while hot; let cool, then wipe clean. For tougher jobs, sprinkle BS or LJ on the cloth before wiping.
Gold: clean with toothpaste, or a paste of salt, VG, and flour.
Silver:
1. Line a pan with aluminum foil and fill with W; add a tsp. each of BS and salt. Bring to a boil and immerse silver. Polish with soft cloth.
2. Aluminum foil, BS, Salt, Very hot W (boiling, maybe). Combine in clean sink. Put tarnished silver and silver-plated items in and let set a few min. Watch tarnish disappear, reappear on foil. Natural chemical reaction kids love & teaches them science!

ODOR:
Air Fresheners: Commercial fresheners coat nasal passages to diminish sense of smell.
1. Absorbtion: BS or VG with LJ in small dishes absorbs odors around the house. Houseplants help. Prevent cooking odors by simmering VG (1 Tb in 1 c. W) while cooking.
2. Vanilla: Soak vanilla in cotton ball place in car or anywhere. Reported to even remove skunk smell.
3. Ventilation: Open windows or doors in the house for at least a short period every day. This will also help to reduce toxic fumes that may be building up indoors.
4. Potpourri: Make your own potpourri from your
favorite herbs and spices. Place the potpourri in a small
basket or jar or in small sachet bags. Boil for more effect.
5. Sprays: Mix water and your favorite essential oils in a spray container. Freshens clothes, air, etc.

Odor Removers:
Carpet: a.) Sprinkle the carpet with a mixture of 1 cup Borax and 2 cups cornmeal. Let this mixture stand for an hour before vacuuming. b.) Use baking soda in same way.
General: BS.
Garbage: Put at bottom of garbage in newspaper to soak smells.
Laundry Hamper: BS at bottom of bag or BS sachets.
Musty Smell: Try mopping an uncarpeted floor/shelf with one gal warm W, 1/2 c. of VG, and 1/4 c. of BS.
Refrigerator: Put a box there. Wash w/BS & W. Sprinkle in bins.
Shoes: Sprinkle BS.
Baking Soda: Soaks up musty smells in fridge, garbage, etc.

POLISH:
Furniture/Floor:
1. 2 p. olive oil, 1 p. LJ.
Mix together in a clean new spray bottle. Use another clean cloth to polish the surface dry.
2. Mix three p olive oil and one part vinegar.
Shoe:
1. Banana Peel
2. Olive oil with a few drops of LJ can be applied to shoes with a thick cotton or terry rag. Leave for a few min; wipe and buff with a clean, dry rag.

Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory!

2008-06-14T07:20:00.006-05:00

As many, if not all, of you know, the Midwest is experiencing some major flooding. Yesterday morning Jonathan was able to get out and take some pictures of the surrounding area. While these shots are only about a mile-mile and a half from our house, thankfully we won't see any flooding due to high elevation and the river not being close by. Crazily enough, the authorities are saying that we can expect up to at least 5 more feet by tomorrow (Sunday).

Keep in mind, Jonathan took these at 5 am yesterday morning. Already in many of these areas the water is almost waist deep. Fletcher and Jonathan have spent a lot of time sandbagging but the waters are projected to go over the sandbags. Now, our efforts are going towards helping people evacuate from their homes.

In all this, I can't help but think of God's promise to Noah, to all people, that He will never again flood the whole earth. I mean, just seeing the water rise as much as it is is pretty scary stuff. But imagining everything, trees, cliffs, mountain tops, being covered in water is overwhelming.

One funny thing to note: Each morning when Julia wakes up I sing her the "Arky-arky" song.

God told Noah there's going to be a floodie, floodie.
God told Noah there's going to be a floodie, floodie.
Get those animals (clap!) out of the muddie, muddie,
Children of the Lord.

So, rise and shine and give God the glory, glory.
Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory.
Rise and shine and (clap!) give God the glory, glory,
Children of the Lord.

God told Noah to build him an arky, arky.
God told Noah to build him an arky, arky.
Build it out of (claps!) gopher barky, barky,
Children of the Lord.

(Chorus)

The animals, they came in, they came in by twosies, twosies,
The animals, they came in, they came in by twosies, twosies,
Elephants and kangaroosies, roosies,
Children of the Lord.

(Chorus)

It rained, it rained for forty nights and daysies, daysies,
It rained, it rained for forty nights and daysies, daysies,
Almost drove poor Noah crazy, crazy,
Children of the Lord.

(Chorus)

The sun came out and dried up the landy, landy,
The sun came out and dried up the landy, landy,
Everything was fine and dandy, dandy,
Children of the Lord.

This is the end of, the end of our story, story,
This is the end of, the end of our story, strory,
Everything was hunky dory, dory,
Children of the Lord.

(Chorus)

To cloth or not to cloth

2008-06-06T16:08:00.003-05:00

Because I am a self declared crazy woman, I've started looking into cloth diapers. Fitted, liners, doublers, covers, prefolds - Indian or Chinese. It's quite overwhelming. But, nonetheless, in an attempt to be environmentally and economically friendly, cloth is becoming quite appealing. Until today...

Julia had a blowout. All up her back. Yum.

So, here I am, stripping her down in the bathroom, running her under the facet, and laughing at just how funny this must look to anyone who's not a mom. Afterward, I started cleaning up her onesie in the sink. And at some point I thought "Ah, so this is what cloth dipaers will be like. Washing out poo in the sink with my hands."

I've found an online diaper store that sells "trial kits" for us parents who aren't quite sold on washing pee and poo on a tri-weekly bases, but are thinking about it. The start up costs are a little hefty, however, if the average cloth diaper really does last 3-5 years, that's pretty good. Yet, it's nice to just throw away everything and not think twice. Which makes me come to an impasse of to cloth or not to cloth. If we do it, we'll try it next month, budget allowing.

So there maybe some interesting diaper stories soon to come here in the Windham house...

Oh the places you will go... just not online

2008-05-29T14:49:00.004-05:00

It's true what they say about traveling. Once you start you never want to stop. My brother calls it the travel bug. You go one place, then you want to go to another, and another, and another. Well, my travel bug has been itching for, oh, I don't know, 3 years now. Not that I haven't gone places in the last 3 years, it's just that I really, really want to go back overseas. Jonathan even said the other day that he was itching for Europe. The only problem is, I can't imagine Europe being as much fun with a 6 month old. I could be wrong, but I'm just guessing. So, we might be keeping in future traveling to the states. Or maybe Canada. Canada seems cool. Despite what Amanda says.

I've come to realize something now that I am back on the internet. I don't really like the internet all that much. It's kinda a bother in some ways. Don't get me wrong, there are some way cool things that the internet provides and that part is something I can dig. But I'm finding myself more and more viewing it as a quick-check-your-email system and then moving on with life. Which, quite frankly, is pretty cool, given that before my fast I was glued to the computer. And today I realized I had checked Facebook in several days, had not gotten on my email since yesterday morning and haven't done much else on online since coming back. These are all things that before would have seemed the hardest things not to do. On the flip side of it all I've been reading a lot more. And I have to say, I like that a lot.

I will throw in this quick note: Julia has a tooth! I felt it on Monday and you can just see the top of it on the front bottom left (her left) side. Pretty sweet. :)

Once upon a time...

2008-05-21T15:08:00.003-05:00

... in a land far, far away, there lived a woman who was half crazy. One day she decided that in order to grow to know her Lord just a little bit better she would cut off all modern forms of communication (or just the internet). And so for 40 days she ignored the computer. Now, at the end of her sentence she has come to the conclusion that a) the world does go on without you, b) you can have a small child and read books, c) she is still crazy, but hopefully a little wiser.

It's been a while. At the beginning of April I had a serious heart check about my life/time and where I put my hope. I realized I was more concerned with who posted on my facebook wall and who did or didn't leave comments on my blog then I was about how much time I spent with God. I saw in myself a person who had become so wrapped up in herself I couldn't go more than a few hours without logging on. So, I cut the cords. I took a drastic (for me) measure and logged off for a while. And it's been good. I've learned a lot about myself, that I can start and complete a task, and that God gives us way more grace than we deserve.

Alrighty, I suppose I can do a quick update on all things Windham. Julia turns a whopping 6 months on this Friday! I just can't even grasp it. She's now been introduced to rice cereal and sweet peas. Sweet peas did not go over very well at first, but now she opens her mouth up super wide when she sees the spoon. Of course, half the food ends up running down her chin, but we're backing progress.

Speaking of other Julia-progressions, she is now sitting up. She started right before she turned 5 months old. She would sit up for about a minute doing what I call the 'gorilla stance' - where the babe uses their hands to hold themselves steady; it looks like a gorilla to me. But at the beginning of May she started sitting upright. She's doing really well, and tends to only fall over when she's sleepy or irritated. And luckily she hasn't hurt herself too bad... just once when she flung herself back on the wood floors in our kitchen.

We're starting house church at our house this weekend. I'm really excited. These means I will actually be able to stay for the duration of church now! We rearranged the down stairs to accommidate for a sitting room and I must say it looks pretty sweet. I might just start spending more time down here.

Jack got a shock collar. Sounds worse than it really is. He has just kinda gone crazy with barking and running off, so we bought a shock collar that he wears every time we let him outside. I've used it once. He hasn't really barked outside since. Apparently, it's pretty effective.

Well, that's about it in a nut shell. I'm sure there's more that I could write, but I'll save it for later.

Tag, I'm it

2008-04-05T20:58:00.002-05:00

I got tagged! And I'll admit like Alicia M, I've always secretly wanted to be tagged. :) So here are 10 random things about myself.

1. I slept with a stuffed animal named Buttcatt until I got married. Wait. That was a lie. I slept with him after I got married too. Just not when Jonathan was at home.

2. I prefer to not take the first item off a shelf at the store, instead I will take the one behind it. Especially if the product comes in a box.

3. I love being outdoors. It makes me feel really close to God. So when it's nice out I will sit for hours outside on the porch, or just put up all the windows and enjoy the fresh air.

4. I've always wanted to be a spy. Windham. Sarah Windham. Sounds good, doesn't?

5. I don't like bananas if they have any brown spots on them. I realize that the peel can be brown and it doesn't mean the banana itself is, but still, I have to force myself to eat one once the peel is brown.

6. I've been proposed to twice. Both times while in Europe. The second time was with Jonathan. The first, just as memorable, was from a drunk old Hungarian on New Year's Eve in Rome. I was at a cafe with my family when this old man came in and started calling me "princippessa" and proposed. It was really funny.

7. I secretly day dream about being in the Southern Living magazine. Either because of my garden, home or cooking. Especially my cooking.

8. I learned to enjoy hot tea with sugar and milk when I was younger because I was fully convinced I would one day meet the British Royals and would need to take milk with my tea at Afternoon Tea.

9. I took fencing for an entire year in college. I even competed some. It was a lot of fun, and I wish I could still do it. Hmmm, maybe I should look into a local fence club here in town.

10. I slept in pillowcases when I was a little girl. My family has some ridiculous pictures of me sleep on the bed in a pillowcase. I don't even know why I did it. Maybe it was a make-shift sleeping bag??

Now I'm gonna tag Suzanne F, Emily, Lincoln, Kara and Shelly (you can do it on Facebook!).

Windham, Party of 4

2008-03-23T14:30:00.002-05:00

We are adding one more member to our family.

And no, I'm not pregnant.

My brother, Fletcher, has moved in with us. He came up on Tuesday with my mom and Dave, and starts school this week. It's going to be a fun adventure, not just for Fletch, but for Jonathan and I as well. I'm looking forward to see what God has in plan for us all and really thrilled that Julia gets to be around her Uncle Fletch.

Now, in other news.... Julia is rolling over! She just rolls one way (when on her belly) and she's only done it a few times, but we're getting there. And when she's on her back, she rolls over on her side (especially at night). It's crazy, because it seems like it all just kinda happened over night. Before you know it, she'll be walking and talking.

Today is a day that will go down in history....

2008-03-08T08:24:00.001-06:00

... I am back in my pre-baby jeans!

To swaddle or not to swaddle, that is the question

2008-03-04T10:36:00.004-06:00

I'm sure most everyone who has gotten to see Julia either right before or after bedtime has seen her in her baby burrito (tightly wrapped blankets that turn any baby into a cute little burrito). For the last 3 months the baby burrito has been a true blessing. She sleeps so soundly and it helped a great deal when her tummy was hurting so much. However, the burrito is turning sour.

Julia, being too smart for her own good, has picked up on what our bedtime/naptime rituals are, and has taken to fighting us when we swaddle her. She'll arch her back, kick, cry, wiggle, anything just to keep from being swaddled. Only thing is, she can't sleep without it. Hmmm... I see a problem here. She has even started doing acrobats in her sleep and so she wakes up completely unswaddled after a few hours (and on the opposite side of the crib), thus going from a 6-7 hours a night sleeper, to 4-5 hours. It seems like every time I go into her room at night now her little left hand and arm are waving free. I secretly think she thinks it's a game: Let's see how long it takes me to get out of this one. She's a little Houdini.

Last week during nap time I would lay her down loosely swaddled or completely unswaddled as to wean her off. Yeah, that wasn't pleasant. She'd sleep for just a few minutes, startle herself, wake up, not fall back to sleep, cry, then be completely swaddled, just to sleep soundly for an hour, then wake herself up because she was able to free her left hand. Finally, by the end of the week I gave up and went back to a full swaddle.

Until today. This morning I vowed to try it all again, this time only doing it once a day (so as to not totally stress myself out - or her) and to leave her left arm free while doing a tight swaddle on her right arm and legs. Do you know what? That girl has been asleep for the last hour and a half. Seriously, she has not even made a peep. What is that?? See, here again proves my theory that she's playing games with us and that you can never, ever predict a baby. But I can see right through her cute little eyes and sweet little smile and I know, I know what's going on. She's going to spend the whole week being a perfect angel, sleeping one arm unswaddled, and then BHAM! she'll change it all up next week. I'm on to you Julia Mabel....

Alas, we'll see what happens. I'd really like to get her to a point that she can sleep with out being a burrito, especially as she gets bigger and longer. But part of me is a little sad, because she's a cutie in that burrito. That's for sure.

***Random hope/desire/prayer/dream/etc*** Dude, I really think Julia might be a lefty like me! I mean, she goes to town with her left hand like nobodies business. So, here's to having my daughter take after me in some way (seeing as she looks just like her daddy!).

This is an old picture, but you get the idea of the baby burrito in all its silly cuteness.

This is why I love Jonathan

2008-02-21T11:37:00.004-06:00

This morning I told Jonathan we were running low on diapers, but that we were expecting to get some in the mail (present from my aunt) today. His response: "Well, sweetie, you just let me know if we need any. And I can pick some up, Raising Arizona style".

***Disclaimer*** There is some bad language in the following video.

Just when I figure it all out

2008-02-14T14:15:00.002-06:00

Julia changes it up on me. And then changes it up again. What's with that?

Last week Julia got into this habit of only taking 30 minute naps. Well, truthfully, she was doing that before last week, but last week was a really rough week. In previous times she'd take a 30 minute nap, then sleep really well the next day or something. But not last week. Last week she was a big girl. Also, I should add that she decided that while she didn't want to nap, she also didn't want to sleep more than 3 hours a stretch at night. So we were up a lot. And she was cranky. A lot.

This week, well this week is completely different. As of this past weekend we've begun letting Julia "cry it out", since she's becoming really depended on us to put her to sleep (ex, we have to rock/bounce/swing her until she's asleep, and if all the planets are aligned just right, maybe, just maybe she won't wake up when we put her down). We're probably softies in this area (at least I know I am), and really don't let her cry alone for that long, especially if the cry is an upset cry and not a tired cry (which, yeah for me, I've finally learned what her different cries are... most of the time!). It's been challenging, but yesterday was a lot better, and she went to sleep fairly fast for her naps, and when the 30 minute mark came, I could quickly get her to fall back asleep.

Anyways, this past Sunday night, I put Julia to bed around 9:15. What to know what time she woke up? 4:15. 7 hours. Yes, 7 hours, that girl slept. Just to be followed the next night by waking up screaming, and then the next night with 7 1/2 hours. Not to mention that she's been taking at least 2 2-hour naps during the day.

I can't figure this girl out! I mean, she's more confusing then me, which Jonathan could tell you is an amazing feat! One day she'll be happy all day, no complaints, the next day she'll be crappy all day... hmmm, sounds like her mama. However, I do think that the reason for the newest sleep habit is because she's hit a growth spurt (at least that's what Google says). Seeing as last week she stepped up her feedings and now this week it seems all she does is eat and sleep with very little play time.

So, yeah, just when I get use to the constant feeding, the middle of the night waking, she decides she's sleepy. And when I get use to that, she's moved on to the next phase. And they say women are fickle. I say, if we're fickle, it's only because we learned it from our babies.

Pneumonia, shots and sounds from the diaper

2008-02-05T08:55:00.000-06:00

Last week I took Julia to the doctor. She had gotten sick over the weekend and by Monday had a pretty bad cough. The doctor said she had bronchitis, sent us home with some medicines and said it should clear up soon. By Thursday we were back in the office, this time to hear that Julia had pneumonia. Is it just me, or is that a big illness for such a little girl? I have to say, it's pretty tough seeing your baby being sick. It's heart breaking, really. We spent the weekend in quarantine, and when I took her back yesterday, things seem to be on the up and up. They gave her her two month shots, which went surprisingly well.

Last night I made sort of a personal vow. A vow to lighten up and stop being so stinkin' proud. I'm a proud person, a stubborn person, and it can make for a really tough time of things. So, I need to really lighten up. Get off my high horse and realize that this world isn't perfect, I'm not perfect and I need to focus on the good things. With that being said, here are the "lighter" things about having a sick daughter.

1. The antibiotics Jules has been on cause gas. Let me tell you what, I have never, ever heard such loud noise come from such a small bottom. It sounds like several bombs going off. And then to see her face afterward.... priceless.

2. Did you know poop turns green when you take certain antibiotics? Well, it does. At least in an infant. Several times, to my surprise, Julia's diapers would come out green. A little shocking to say the least.

3. Is that a soldier I see? No, no, it's just Julia wear a gas mask. Actually, it was a nebulizer, but it reminded me of the gas masks from WWII. Now, if I can just teach her to army crawl.

4. One thing that makes me laugh more than anything else: When she's about to have a breakdown, she starts sticking out her bottom lip, makes this really mad/sad face and then lets it all go. I have to admit, it's pretty funny. It's almost as though she's throwing a tantrum, without the kicking... just the screaming.

They say it's your birthday!

2008-02-01T22:25:00.000-06:00

Happy birthday Lincoln! I just want you to know how much I love you and how exciting it is to see you chasing after the Lord. You are an amazing brother and I am thrilled for you and what God has and is doing in your life.

You must have been a beautiful baby

2008-01-27T16:25:00.000-06:00

Watch out Batman! She's coming back!

2008-01-24T14:27:00.000-06:00

I cooked dinner two times this week!

And I don't mean just using the frozen meals we have, but actually cutting up meat and veggies and making something! Oh, and then I made cookies. From scratch!

Oh, oh, oh, and then, and then I brushed my teeth before bed (like I actually brushed my teeth for the first time of the day before 9 pm!).

But that's not all, I did laundry, vacuumed and took a shower this week! And what's even better, I remembered to put on deodorant!

Holy smokes, I'm on a roll! What next? Finding a cure for cancer? Saving the penguins from extinction? Joining the Peace Corps?

Man, I put Martha Stewart to shame.

Entitlement

2008-01-18T10:11:00.001-06:00

I'm entitled to have good days aren't I? And when I have one good day, isn't the next day suppose to be just as good? It should never be worse, right? I have to be honest, this is something that I'm really struggling with and trying to wrap my mind around. When I have one really amazing day with Julia (she isn't very fussy, we get a lot done at the house, we can visit friends) I think I am entitled to ever day being that way. Like this week.

On Tuesday we had an amazing day. She napped when she was suppose to, we got to meet Jonathan for lunch, she wasn't very fussy and seemed to just be completely content all day. Wednesday was a whole different story. She cried if I held her, cried if I put her down, she barely napped and finally by the late afternoon I got her to fall asleep while I held her the whole time. Which means the house was a mess, I was a mess, dinner was the last thing from my mind. And I realize, Julia is my job. Not my house, or laundry, or dinner. But still. I should be able to do those things...

Well, on Wednesday night I spent some time with Shirley. I was talking to her about how I feel entitled to these things, and how I get pretty angry when I pray and God doesn't seem to respond to those prayers (ex: I'm exhausted and just want Julia to sleep. I pray and she only sleeps for 3 hours, or she wakes up 3-4 times). It seems like He would want me to rest, to feel good about the day ahead and not so run down and weak. Then Thursday morning Shirley sent me an email with these verses from 2 Corinthians 12:

"Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Wow, that hit me like a ton of bricks. Since Julia's birth I have been working on my own strength, my own power and I'm exhausted. So yesterday I prayed "God, I need time with you, but you're going to need to make my schedule clear." And while it wasn't "clear" in the sense that I accepted, He did give me time when Julia was relaxing in her bouncy seat. And again this morning. Yet, I realize that I can't wait for God to give me loads of time, because it won't ever happen, but He will give me time and it's up to me to use it effectively.

I surrender

2008-01-12T10:15:00.000-06:00

I'm giving you my heart, and all that is within
I lay it all down for the sake of you, my King
I'm giving you me dreams, I'm laying down my rights
I'm giving up my heart for the promise of new life

And I surrender all to you, all to you
And I surrender all to you, Lord, all to you

I'm singing you this song, I'm waiting at the cross
And all the world holds dear, I count it all as loss
The sake of knowing you the glory of your name
To know that lasting joy in sharing in your pain

This song has been on repeat in my head for the last day. For the past two days Julia has been really upset. She's been gassy and overly needy. We've had to hold her while she sleeps, otherwise she wakes up completely freaked out. Yesterday she woke up at 6 am and didn't go to bed until 9 pm, having only slept for 2 hours (not consecutively, mind you) during the day. She was so sleepy, you could tell by just looking at her. But her tummy hurt so bad she couldn't rest. Finally she gave way and fell asleep with us in bed. After her normal middle of the night feeding, she fell back asleep, just to wake up in pain at 4:30 this morning. I rocked her, bounced her and walked her for two hours till Jonathan took over so I could sleep. You can hear her poor little tummy rumbling and she is in some pain for sure. I didn't want to believe it, but Julia is colicky. I'm not sure why it's been so hard for me to come to terms with it, but it has been. But after yesterday I really can't deny it.

So in the midst of her crying and not sleeping yesterday, this song came to me. I surrender. I surrender my life and my dreams to Christ. This is too hard to do alone, and I can't keep holding on to my pride, so I'm surrendering. I'm giving up, I'm letting go. Christ can have it all.

Maybe, just maybe... Part III

2008-01-01T16:37:00.000-06:00

Maybe, just maybe there are times when I want to give up.

I'm making a New Year's resolution to be honest about the trials I face. So many times I can look the other way and act like everything in my life is a-okay when really I feel like I am drowning.

Frankly, breastfeeding sucks. Both literally and figuratively. I've never had more pain or frustration at something that is suppose to be "natural". Part of me thought that by now Julia and I would have figured this thing out. But we are far from it. It seems like she struggles at almost every feeding. She goes back and forth between understanding what she's doing to not having a clue. Top that off with the worst pain a woman can feel and really bottle feeding seems pretty appealing.

Honestly, the only thing keeping me going for breastfeeding at this point is knowing that this is the best thing I can do for Julia. And even then I'm not sure that's why I'm doing it. Maybe really I'm just afraid of being a bad mom. So I breastfeed. Yeah, that's really what it is. I am overwhelmed with fear. Fear that she isn't gaining weight properly, fear that she isn't getting enough food, fear that I don't understand her cries, fear that I am doing absolutely everything wrong. Fear that things will always be this hard and that my life will stay this way. Fear that I will not be able to show my daughter the love that she so badly needs and deserves. Fear that I am not living up to my role as a wife, or as a daughter of the Lord. Fear that I am going through a huge trial and am missing the whole message from God. Fear that I am turning to everyone but God. Fear is literally consuming me. It can be completely immobilizing.

I'm not sure what is going to happen over the next few days, weeks, or months. I'd love to say that I will be on my face before the Lord gaining my strength from Him, but since we're going for honesty here, I can't say that will be the case. I want it to be, but I'm sure it won't always happen.

So here's to honesty through trials in the new year.

Sleep, oh sleep, where art thou?

2007-12-18T12:02:00.000-06:00

I'm not sure anyone can understand the deepest desire of sleep until they have children. Before Julia I really thought the sleep deprivation wouldn't be a big deal. I pulled all nighters in college. I spent one semester sleeping less than 4 hours a night on average. I know what it feels like to always want to take a nap, always feel a little slow, and always dependent on caffeine.

Then I had Julia and I realized I didn't have a clue.

With the lack of sleep in college it was by choice. I chose to stay up. I chose to play and then study. But I always napped. Ah, yes, I napped a lot. There was this really great library on campus that was really small and old and hardly anyone ever went there. Anyways, they had these two oversized leather chairs that looked out over the South Mall by the UT Tower. I would go up there nearly every day, kick back in the chair and read for class. Actually, I just slept. And when I didn't nap there, I would nap on the lawn of the South Mall while again "reading".

Naps now seem like a gift. Mostly because while everyone says you should nap when the baby naps it's virtually impossible, that is if you still want to do anything you did before you had a baby, like, I don't know, shower for one thing. And another thing about naps, babies don't always want to fall asleep. I just assumed all babies liked sleeping and would sleep as soon as you said "go". But that's not really the case. And getting them to sleep is like a performance. You rock, you sway, you pat, you shush, you lay down and you walk out. Now, I know that there's the idea to let the baby "cry it out". Frankly, I'm all for that. But since Jules is only 3 1/2 weeks old, I'm not going that route for now. In the future, yes, but now, no.

And along with naps are waking up. There is a HUGE difference between Julia fully napped up and Julia being awoken before she's ready. Napped up Julia is happy and cooing. Sleepy Julia is cranky and ticked. I don't blame her, I'm the same way. And if she's anything like her father (which it's scary how much she is) then she's really cranky and ticked. Then when you have people who want to wake her up, that has to be the biggest irritant. Obviously people don't realize the song and dance it took to get her to sleep and now they want to wake her up. Not because she needs to get up, but because they want to hold her. Hold her car seat. Take a picture of her and hold that. But, please, oh please, for the sake of sleep, don't wake the baby!

Too much cuteness

2007-12-16T10:37:00.000-06:00

Maybe, just maybe... Part Two

2007-12-14T10:57:00.000-06:00

Maybe, just maybe I don't have a clue what I'm doing.

This week has been a whirlwind. Starting Monday night, Julia decided she wanted to cry, a lot. She cried most of the day Tuesday and Wednesday. Yesterday she gave me a bit of a breather, which I really needed! Jonathan and I spent the first two days try to narrow down the reasons for her crying and we think (and could be way wrong) that Jules has a intolerance to legumes. Our reasoning behind this idea is that I ate peanut butter for the first time since she was born (on Monday and then on Tuesday) and that's when her crying all started. And I've had this gut feeling ever since we got home from the hospital that she didn't take well to beans whenever I ate them. Now, like I said, this is all just new parent somethings-wrong-with-my-kid-what-is-it hypothesis. Who knows, maybe she's just a talker. Which in all reality she'll have to be to survive in this family.

I've come to the conclusion that being a mom is the world's hardest job. I'm sure brain surgery is pretty tough, but I'm still going to say mommyhood is tougher. See, brain surgeons at least get training. Me, I got nada. I had younger brothers I baby sat, but nothing like this. And there is this since of panic when you realize that you and you alone know more about your child than anyone else in the world. HA! Are you kidding me? My understanding of the way Julia works is about as great as my understanding of brain surgery. So, that in of itself is what makes this the hardest job ever. That and the pee.

I've never been peed on and puked on more in my life. I know little boys are notorious for peeing on you, but girls?! Yep, Julia has now successfully peed on my four times in the last 30 hours. Twice she even had on a diaper. Stupid Huggies. And she's puked on me more times than that. The crazy thing is, she seems more upset about all of this than me. She pees all over and then starts crying. She pukes and looks at me like "Holy smokes, what was that?! Help me!".

But somehow through all the pee, puke and endless crying, there are some amazing moments. Like this morning. After her mid morning feeding, I had Julia propped up on my lap on some pillows and she was just staring at me and smiling (I know it was probably gas, but this momma is pretending it's a real smile) and just looking absolutely beautiful. And in that moment I thought "This is why moms do it. We do it because through all the rough times, the sleepless nights, the crying, the peeing, the puking, we get to have this sense of what God must think about us. Through all our messiness, we look up at Him with total admiration, total love, and smile at Him with awe for how He provides and cares for us through it all. And as we are looking at Him, He's staring back at us with a heart filled with more joy and love than we will ever know and more wiliness to continue cleaning us up, fixing our lives and making us whole."

Maybe, just maybe...

2007-12-10T20:25:00.000-06:00

...I'm going to make it.

In review of the last week, things are getting better. I'm slowly starting to get my head wrapped around all the ideas of motherhood and my confidence is growing, even if a millimeter a day.

Today was a really good day. We went back to the doctor and Julia has gotten back (and passed) her birth weight. She's gained a 1/2 pound in one week, which is super good! We also went by my old work to introduce her to my co-workers. And while she screamed like none other at the appointment, I just started to realize, "Hey, babies cry, people will get over it."

Also, the feeding thing is getting smoother. We're still getting adjust to it, but like one of the nurses said today "Well, I bet the feedings are better than a week ago, and a lot better than two weeks ago." She's right. They are. And they will continue to get better.

While I could sit here and think, "Sarah, you're a great mom. You rock" all I can really think is, "Wow, God. You are a great God. I couldn't do any of this without You. Thank You." And it's true. Every day, good or bad, is a blessing from God. Today was good. Yesterday was rough. Tomorrow could go either way. But God is the same, His grace is the same, His love is the same. And that alone is worthy of my praise.

So, thank You, God. You rock.

Hello Motherhood! Goodbye Sanity!

2007-12-03T20:13:00.000-06:00

As I am sure everyone knows, Jonathan and I had our daughter, Julia Mabel, on Friday, November 23. She weighed 8 lbs, .03 oz. She is a beautiful, precious, adorable gift from our loving heavenly Father. I can't even begin to express my joy when I hold her, feed her, love on her. I have no doubt that she will continue to be a joy and delight in my life forever.

Now, a little about her birth: (FYI, this might be TMI)

Jonathan, my mom, my brother John, and I went shopping around 6 am on the 23rd. We hung out at the Coral Ridge Mall till about 9 or so, and then came back home. I planned on resting for a little while but decided to do a little house cleaning first. About half way through vacuuming, I felt a leakage. Deep down I knew it had to be my water or something like it, but wasn't totally convinced. Then around 10:30 I started having some bad cramping, like what I'd get with a period. They weren't coming to close, but I asked my mom what she thought. She said, "Well, sweetie, I think you're in labor". So, we called Jonathan (who was still out shopping) and told him he'd better plan on heading back soon.

By noon my contractions were coming about 5-10 minutes apart and lasting about 30-45 seconds. Jonathan and I took a walk around our cul de sac before deciding it best to leave for the hospital. By 1:30 we checked in to Labor and Delivery. Now, forgive me, but this is the part where things get a little fuzzy for me. I was put in a triage room and the nurse hooked me up to two monitors; one for my contractions and one for Julia's heartbeat. The on call doctor checked me and found that I was 5-6 centimeters dialated and 50-60% effaced. I was monitored for about 30 minutes before I asked to walk around, as I'm not one to be okay with being confined to a bed. Jonathan helped me waddle down the hall, met up with my family and take a 20 minute walk before I decided that I was 1) too sleepy to keep going; 2) in even more pain since the contractions were coming even sooner.

We made it back to the triage room just to find out that in the 1 1/2 hours that I had been there, I'd already gone to 7-8 centimeters dialated. And this, this my friends is when the pain kicked in.

Before I left the triage room, the urge to push had already started. Then to top it off, the water that I had been sucking down came back up (way gross). I moved over to a delivery room and this is where my story ends. No, honestly, I really don't remember a whole lot more. But I can piece some things together for you:

1. My doctor, who was in Burlington showed up.

2. The urge to push was growing. And so was the pain.

3. The urge to push was still growing. And so was the pain.

4. At some point I asked to go to the bathroom. Jonathan helped me along, when the urge to push hit. Ok, so look, when you want to push and you aren't allowed to, yeah, that's the hard part of labor. So, here I am, sitting on the pot, needing to push, not being allowed to push, just wanting to push. That's when Jonathan stepped up to the plate. He squatted down, and said "Sarah, do you know why you can't push? If you push, you will cause damage to yourself. You will tear and be in more pain than you are now. So, you need to obey. You have to obey. You cannot push until we tell you."

5. Back in the bed, still wanting to push. Now, I start asking for some drugs. Anything. I really don't care. And again, Jonathan steps up. He just keeps repeating. "You can do this." And then when I'd want to push, he'd keep repeating "Sarah, you have to obey".

6. I think at some point I actually blacked out. I say this only because I remember "coming to" and not realizing where I was. And then I had a contraction. And then I remembered.

7. My mom. I love my mom. Before I went into labor I wasn't convinced I wanted my mom to be there with me. I have issues with modesty, and frankly birth isn't very modest, so it seemed weird to me to have her there. But at some point you just stop caring. And really, my mom was amazing. Did I mention that she's had 6 kids and was a Labor and Delivery nurse for 20 odd years? Well, yeah, needless to say, she was a God send. She really helped me to know what was coming next and what to expect. She reminded me to breathe. She got me to start focusing on Jonathan instead of closing my eyes the whole time. I'm not sure I paid too much attention to everything she said at the time, but I couldn't have made it through without her.

8. The doctor, or someone, gave the okay to push. Holy Smokes. This is the best part of labor. All this time you can't do much other than breathe and not push. But now, now you can actually do something productive.

9. Julia Mabel is born!! There lots of other things that happened between the "you can push" and Julia actually arriving, but perhaps that's too much for people. All I know is at one point I became very good at yoga.

10. Grace. Selflessness. Humility. God is going to be teaching me a lot. It's true what they say, God gives us children to shape our character, not just theirs. I've really been struggling for the last 10 days. But, you know what, God has really provided. Now, I need to just let Him keep providing, keep leading. I have way more questions than answers. I feel really lost with this whole motherhood thing. I cry a lot. But I think this is good. It breaks me. It makes me rely on God, on my husband and my friends. I'm not one to ask for help, yet I think that will change. I like perfection. I like routine. I like having things in place, on time and smooth. God's got something big in store. And I'm pretty sure it's not going to be routine, in place, on time or smooth. However, it will be His will for my family, for my life, and that's what is most important.

**If at any time you want to toss up some prayers for us that would be great.**

Losing control, or dying to yourself

2007-11-20T22:28:00.000-06:00

I'm slowly going out of my mind. Literally. Sleep has been pretty scarce the last week, and it's taking a toll on my body/mind. The hard part is, the baby still hasn't arrived so it's not as though I'll be getting a lot of sleep with her around anyways.

And speaking of her... God has a funny way of stopping me in my tracks.

For several weeks, no make that a couple of months, this fear that my daughter is actually going to come out a son has been lurking in my mind. Like normal, I've learned to suppress my thoughts/feelings on this issue until they hit me upside my head. Last night I had a long conversation with one of my dearest friends from back home, Rabeea. Her sister just had a baby, whom everyone thought was a girl (confirmed by two ultrasounds) and turned out to be a boy. During that conversation I realized I need to get some things right before the Lord.

I am not entitled to a daughter. I am not entitled to a son. Frankly, nowhere in the Bible does it say I am entitled to anything other than being a child of God. And really, we could stop right there and life would be complete, but our Father wants to bless. And so He has. I'm pregnant. Becoming pregnant was a fervent prayer of mine for over a year. And here I am, finishing up what has been a wonderful pregnancy.

Then last night I fully realized I've been obsessing over having a daughter ever since I found out she was a she (I know I would have done the same if I was told from the get go it was a he). People have made comments like "Well, you never know, it could be a boy" and I found myself getting angry with them. I took it as a personal attack and found myself being upset and defensive each time someone dared to second guess our ultrasound.

But the Lord knows that we will break. He knows that we will fall and come crawling back to Him. And because He is a good and loving God, because He has compassion, He holds us, dusts us off and never complains that it's taken us far longer than it should to humble ourselves.

And that is what I am doing. I was up for most of the night crying and praying. I want nothing more than to have a daughter. I want it because I have everything I need for a girl. I have formed a bond with what I know to be my daughter. I call her by name, speak prayers of blessing over her, and have spent much time just in thought over how God will use her in her life. But, really, what if I have a boy? What if through all this time, through my delivery, my doctor says, "It's a boy!" how will I be? Will I rejoice? Or will I question God? Will I wonder why He has provided everything for a girl just to give us a boy? Or will I trust that just as He provided once, He will provide again?

It is my desire to trust the Lord with all my heart and all my understanding. But I'll be honest, I don't. I live in fear. I live in doubt. But, last night God met me where I am and I realized that I don't need to come to Him in completeness, I need to come to Him broken. He wants me to step out in faith amid doubt and to surrender even when I feel like I can't. He wants me to surrender my daughter. And so I did. It was hard, harder it seems than when I surrendered getting pregnant to Him. I've spent too much time believing and trusting in the wrong things. It hurts to have to die to your flesh and your desires. And I haven't fully. I'm still praying that if it's God's will everything will hold true and we will deliver a health baby girl. But God's grace is good, and even in the last 18 hours I've come to more fully trust that He is in control and I am not. That He knows best and I do not. Just like with my miscarriage, His thoughts and ways are higher than mine, and while I didn't understand why He allowed what He did, He knew. And it was, and still is, simply my responsibility to trust Him and continue to follow after Him.

So, I rejoice! And if The Windhams end up with a son instead of a daughter, you can count on him being loved beyond what my heart can even comprehend right now.

Eight days and counting

2007-11-15T17:19:00.000-06:00

I've got eight days until my "due date". I use that term very loosely for several reasons.

1) I've been given three due dates. And today was actually one of them. The official date is the 23rd, but I'm liking today more than that one.

2) Just because you're due on a date doesn't mean the baby is coming. It's not like a wedding. I mean you can still count down, but it's not gonna happen just because Google says you have eight days left.

Anyways, I've come to the point that I'm ready to move on to the next stage. I've really enjoyed this last week of "freedom", but I'm thinking I'd rather see my little girl now. We had an appointment today and actually prayed in the waiting room that we would go into labor this weekend. Now, it's God's will and all when she arrives, but Jonathan and I would both be thrilled if this weekend lined up with His will. So yeah, maybe this is a prayer request via Blogger... prayer for a healthy, safe delivery and that it could come this weekend.

Either I'm pregnant or old...

2007-11-08T21:18:00.000-06:00

Last night Jonathan and I went to dinner with two of my co-workers. We had a really great time and tried out the Texas Roadhouse that just came into town. Nothing like a steak... Matt E jokes with me that our daughter is going to come out demanding steak and potatoes. I really wouldn't be surprised if she did.

Anyways, moving on. We meet up for dinner then went to see a nearly 3 hour movie. By the last 45 minutes my back was hurting so bad I figured I was either in labor or my daughter was making me pay for sitting for almost five hours total.

I went home and pulled out the heating pad and fell asleep sitting almost upright. This morning I woke up and thought "Wow Sarah, the only people you know who sleep upright with heating pads are people over the age of 75."

And so, I've decided that pregnancy is one of God's ways to prepare women for old age. We can't hold our bladder, our backs hurt, our hips hurt, we enjoy going to bed before the sun goes down, we walk about 3 times slower than anyone else and we get a little cranky if not properly feed.

Pregnancy musings, or, Thoughts from a Hippo

2007-10-29T11:19:00.001-05:00

My tinker finally hit the 9 month mark. 4 weeks left and counting.

There are a few things that I've come to realize over the last month:

1. No matter how high your self esteem is, when you can't get out of bed on your own you tend to think maybe you're a tad on the "big" size.

2. When you walk into HyVee and hear someone say "Wow, you've gotten really big" you automatically think they are talking about you. Only when you turn around do you realize they are talking to a 5 year old.

3. If you go on a weekend getaway with your hubby, don't be surprised if the people running the B&B give you the name and number of the local nurse "just in case".

4. Even though you might forget at times that your pregnant (maybe it's just me, but I'm a rather forgetful person and can even forget I'm pregnant... if for all of 2 seconds) you are rudely reminded when you try to do the following:

A. Wash dishes
B. Do laundry
C. Get up from a chair
D. Sit down in a chair
E. Walk
F. Try to jump up on a counter top to sit (yes, I actually did this last night. Don't ask why I thought I could do it, but I think it's because I honest forgot about the basketball I have under my shirt).

5. Laying down has never been so scary. I can't even recline in a chair without my breathing being cut off.

6. Mostly, I've come to realize that while my body is no longer my own, I can't begin to express the joy I have when I feel my daughter move, hiccup, kick or anything else. It really has been an amazing 36 weeks, and I am truly grateful to God for every last minute of it.

It's okay, I'm still awesome

2007-10-19T10:22:00.001-05:00

This morning I went over to Jonathan's office to drop off his phone that I forgot to give him before we left the house. Then we decided to walked down from the 3rd floor of the hospital to the 1st to put a few letters in the mail. Before we left I needed to take a potty break.

I went into the girl's bathroom, thinking "Wow, did they change this since the last time I was here? It's a lot smaller than I remember". Nevertheless, I do my business. Surrounding me are some rather inappropriate comments, and the thought passes through my brain "Man, girls are kinda vulgar".

I leave the stall to wash my hands, only to come face to face with a urinal. That's right, I was standing in the men's restroom. I quickly turned around and went straight for the door. When I came out Jonathan looks at me funny and we both look at the sign next to the door that clearly says "MEN". He's response, "Did you just go in the guy's room?". Yes, yes I did. I am a genius in a dunce hat. But it's okay, I'm still awesome.

Flaunt what ya momma gave ya

2007-10-02T14:30:00.000-05:00

I never grew up really celebrating Halloween. I went trick or treating a few times, but nothing worth while. Once I was older, well, I was older, and who goes knocking on their neighbors' doors for candy at 25?

However, every year since I've moved to Iowa I've attended a Halloween party. My co-worker loves Halloween and goes all out each year with a top notch gathering. Since this will most likely be our last year to attend (as we've decided Baby Dubya won't be partaking in Halloween), I figured I needed to go all out with my costume and big belly.

Here are some of my personal favorites:

I've thought about being a redneck with a big ol' beer belly; wear some tattered jeans, a white shirt that shows the bottom of my stomach, get a mullet wig and carry around a beer. Maybe Jonathan could be my "woman".

A post away from the norm

2007-09-25T10:53:00.000-05:00

I don't usually voice my political opinions. There are several reasons for this, but mostly I've come to realize that they are, after all, only opinions, and therefore shouldn't be argued over. I surprise myself by saying that, given how outspoken I was during college, but a lot has changed in the last 3 years.

However, every now and again I come across something that demands my attention and voice. An article that I read today in the Sojourners Magazine really spoke to me. It was from their November 2006 issue, entitled "Hearts & Minds: Who Will Protect Us From Him?".

The article touches on a lot of questions I've had over the last 5+ years. It really made me beg the question "How wrong are we"? I don't really care who is for or against our current administration, there is nothing we can do about that for another year. What I do care about is how we are damaging our faith by having a skewed view of God. In Christianity there are rights and there are wrongs. The same holds true in an ethically moral world. But can we really say we are absolutely right and someone else is absolutely wrong? Can we really say that God is on our side 100%? I don't really think so.

Life lessons learned the hard way, aka, The day I had no ankles

2007-09-23T10:35:00.000-05:00

Jonathan and I went to Minnesota this weekend for a conference on being an organic church. We drove up there on Friday and came back super late Saturday.

From the beginning, we informed our other passengers that we'd need to stop quite often, since at this stage I can't stay in one position too long. The ride up was without problems. We stopped several times and while I felt a little sore when we arrived, for the most part all was good.

Coming back however, not so good. Every thing stared off right. We drove about an hour and a half before stopping at Cabela's to eat and walk around. Cabela's is a man's playground. I've never seen so many stuffed animals, camo and guns in the same place. And for dinner, I even ate a bison burger. I must admit, I'm a little ashamed of myself for that, because I really love buffalo and felt kinda bad for eating one.

Anyways, we got back on the road, stopping on one more time before we got home. Apparently, this is where I went wrong. In my head I knew we should have stopped more, but since I didn't have to go to the bathroom I figured this was no point.

Well, last night when I was getting ready for bed, I realized my feet were really tingly, sorta like when they've been asleep and are finally waking up. I look down to see that my feet are swollen to twice their normal size! Holy cow. I made Jonathan take pictures (although, sadly I'm not posting them, because it's slightly embarrassing) and I couldn't stop laughing for a good 5 minutes. I propped my legs up for a while and then went to sleep figuring that they'd be back to normal by this morning. It looks like I was wrong. While they aren't nearly as bad as last night, they are still pretty swollen, and the bad part is they are starting to really hurt. It's a bit painful to walk around. I'm hoping that resting them today will help with the swelling and pain. We'll see!

I think the salsa is effecting my brain

2007-09-13T10:14:00.001-05:00

This week has been the week from, well, you know where. Not in my personal life, but in my work life. I guess when you work in HR you sign up to work with a bunch of 50 year old who act like they are 12. So, be warned all you who are thinking of applying for my job...

Because I have barely had a lunch break in the last 3 days, I have a ton of pinned up thoughts circling in my brain, so this blog might not make any sense.

Thought 1 - Ben Harper came out with a new cd, Lifeline. Jonathan and I picked it up last week and it's really quite excellent. It's a move away, in my opinion, of the white album on Both Sides of the Gun, but not the slow, emotional verses of the black album. He's thrown in some pretty awesome cords that seem to be a throw back to canjun music. I'm not sure it's my favorite cd yet (not much can top Welcome to the Cruel World), but it's Ben, so I don't complain.

Thought 2 - Jonathan, the love of my life, is now the household handy man. For a week and a half now we've had no access to our main bathroom, because we've deciced to redo the floor. Leah suggested that I have a written contract that the bathroom is completed by October 1, which might not be a bad idea... But in all reality, I think Jonathan wants it all done more than I do. Plus, it doesn't help that I can't do anything but say "ooh" "aww" and give words of encouragement. However, I can say that if I don't see the inside of a Lowe's or Menard's for the next year I'd be quite alright with that.

Thought 3 - I love my job. I really do. But I will be so very happy when I don't have to work here anymore. If there is one thing that I have learned while working here, it is, we will forever be stuck in 7th grade. If you didn't like your middle school years, too bad, because adult world is no better. Did you feel awkward, feel outcasted, feel like no one understood you when you were 12? Well, I hate to break it to you, but it doesn't change much just because you got a college education and decided to join the "real world".

Thought 4 - Jack is nuetered.

Thought 5 - Jonathan and I started our birthing class last week. I don't think anyone has said two words (except during the first ice breaker game) since the class started. Jonathan and I cannot handle this type of silence. I think I've started laughing at just about everything that goes on in the class. Not because it's funny, but because there is so much tension that laughing is the only way I know to cope. Look, I've no doubt that pushing a 7 lb baby out of my body is going to be a very hard and difficult process, but seriously, isn't funny when our instructor sits on a stool, graps her ankles and pulls her legs up to her ears to show us how to push during labor? I mean, come on people, that is a classic!

Thought 6 - Fall is approaching. I love the fall. It is my favorite time of the year for so many reasons. First, the cool weather is amazing (more so now that I'm pregnant). Second, fall means holidays. Fall is the first reminder that Thanksgiving and Christmas are going to be coming again once more. And that to me is one of the most important things about fall. :)

Thought 7 - Third trimester. Ugh. I love being pregnant. It's been a real blessing and I am truly so very thankful to the Lord for what He's doing. But at the same time I think that I've come fully into to my third trimester. My body hurts, constantly. And the super cute pregnant clothes that my friends so graciously let me borrow aren't fully covering up my tummy any more. In several tops the bottom of my belly is hanging out. Hmmm... maybe if I was European I could get away with that look, but not so much here in Iowa. It might be time to use the last of my Kohl's gift card to get a few more tops.

Thought 8 - Sleep is nice. I don't always get it, but when I do it's heavenly. In fact, I think I might take tomorrow off just to sleep.

It's official, I don't do well under stress

2007-09-04T13:40:00.000-05:00

Today started like every other work day. I woke up, got ready for work, ate some breakfast and walked to my bus stop. And that is where every thing went wrong.

I'm sitting on the bus, reading one of my baby books, when I started to feel a little queasy. I figured it was because I was reading and riding (not that I normally have motion sickness), so I put my book away. Then I started feeling warm, so I took off my cardigan. My head starts swimming, and I realize I'm sweating profusely. My palms are so wet, pools of sweat have formed. My face was wet to the touch, wet like I had just gone running. Now I begin to freak out. It's all setting in that I am about to pass out.

Now I grew up with a mother who is a nurse. I've never shied away from blood, guts, vomit, etc. As soon as I realized what was happening, I tried to put my head between my legs and take deep long breathes. Ok, first off, being 28 weeks pregnant and putting your head between your legs on a bus, is like making wine out of water, it would be a miracle.

Then BAM! Before I know it, I'm coming to. It's was like I was waking up from some really strange dream. I had no clue where I was, what was going on. I tried to remain calm. I realized no one had noticed, so all I needed to do was get off the bus as soon as possible and get some fresh air.

As soon as I left the bus, I called my mom. She told me to call Jonathan and go to my doctor immediately. I called Jonathan. By this point all common sense had been cast into the wind. I begin crying hysterically, which freaks Jonathan out. Between broken sobs I managed to tell him what happened and to meet me at the hospital. As I'm walking to the doctor's I meet my boss. Again, common sense is no where to be found, and I managed to get out "Going to hospital. Not coming in. Call you."

After an hour, Jonathan and I are seen by a nurse. Then half an hour later by a doctor. During this whole time Jonathan is doing his best to keep me from crying, assuring me that everything is a-ok.

By the end, it turns out that my blood pressure was a bit low, and I was partially dehydrated. Baby Dubya's heart rate was between 140-150 (which is perfect). She had been active after breakfast and even shortly after the whole incident. Even now, she's bopping around. So she is perfectly healthy and has no clue what happened.

Wow, so that was my day. I am thanking my Lord that everything is fine. Even in the midst of a emotional shake down, He was right there, continuing to guard my child and me.

Some of the best things in life are free... or at least 1/2 price

2007-08-30T08:44:00.000-05:00

It has arrived.

Yesterday Sonic had training day and put all their menu items at half price as a means to generate buzz and business.

I had a combo with a cherry limeade for $2.30. It was delicious. Every single bite.

I could even go back today....