Postpartum hormones

I'm going to go ahead and blame postpartum hormones for my weepiness while watching this...

Don't judge.

(Nora and I have been watching lots of "Glee" clips on Youtube...not a huge fan of the show, but love the singing and dancing!)

This, That and the Other

Some updates on us...

Pregnancy :: I had my 28-week checkup last week, and indeed I am still measuring big...33-34 weeks. *Sigh*. Carrying around this big ol' belly is getting tiring plus I've had several nights here and there of insomnia, which is rough. But, Little Man, is way active - kicking, punching and even tickling Mommy with funny flutters. I can even make out body parts like his feet. This is a pretty new experience for me as Nora loved to sleep in-utero and pretty much just wiggled her bum back and forth. I must admit, I am slightly intimidated by the idea of mothering a little boy. Having grown up with one sister and having Nora, not sure what I'm in for...but I'm sure it will be a sweet adventure no matter what!

Thang :: Is, in a word, AWESOME. I had a VERY short night of sleep last night and am feeling pretty miserable. So, as soon as he got home from work, he packed up Nora and headed to the library and park to give me a break and is picking up dinner on his way home. AND, because the couch is pretty much the only comfortable place for me to get some shut-eye these days, he drug out his sleeping bag and camped out on the floor next to me several nights this week. God bless that man.

Nora :: Growing up way too fast and continuing to make us smile everyday, thankful we get to be her parents (do I say that often enough?). Miss Nora will soon get an entire post of her own, but here's a sneak peak of some of her latest: practicing to be a "ballewina fow Halloweena!", the early stages of potty-training and theology for 2 year olds. Aren't you intrigued?! More to come on all this...

Scripture :: A couple of verses I am meditating on today...

"The purposes of a man's heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out." Proverbs 20: 5

"The lamp of the LORD searches the spirit of a man; it searches out his inmost being." Proverbs 20: 27

House :: I am definitely entering into the "manic nesting stage" of pregnancy, which means lists of projects for myself and "honey-do" lists for my honey. The kiddos will share a room, so I am trying to come up with creative ways to make Nora and Little Man's room fun and gender-non-specific while trying not to change things too much for N. I have lots of ideas I'm excited to share on this transformation! We are also in the process of redecorating our bedroom (or should I say decorating it in the first place). Thang and I have been going through Mark Driscoll's study on the Song of Solomon and have been reminded that our room should be an oasis (which isn't quite happening when you still have t.v. trays for nightstands). Before and after pics to come!

Some random posts I've collected that I wanted to pass along ::

Best Picture Books ::: Holy Experience

Today's Parent: Promoting a new kind of nanny state? ::: McKmama

Homeschooling is not optional ::: Not Just Cute (it's not what you think)

Child's Play is a Job Well Done ::: Kitchen Stewardship

Being Intentional about Activity ::: Adventure in Progress

The Love with which we Perform ::: Incourage

Well, that was a random smattering of some of the latest around here!

Birthday Cake Inspiration: Rejects

As I was trying to come up with Nora's birthday cake for this year, I did a couple quick Google searches to get some inspiration. Um, here were a couple of the results...

...think I'll save these for another year...

Lately...

So, it's been over a month-and-a-half since I posted. We've been through many weeks of illness and the tail end of a very looooong Winter. But, now the sun is shining, the sky is an amazing shade of blue and Spring is here to stay. Boy, am I thankful for that!

My hiatus from blogging was not planned, but thinking about writing has just overwhelmed me lately. All that to say, I'm gearing up to blog again. I've got a lot of catching up to do with the cute kid pics and I have several other things I'd like to share.

Stay tuned!

From around the web.

I am amazed on nearly a daily basis by the thought-provoking writing I'm finding around the blogosphere. Here is a taste of some of the great posts that have encouraged me, challenged me or just sent my brain reeling...

Of mermaids and moral dilemmas at SortaCrunchy - about little girls, The Little Mermaid and growing up too fast. There is some great discussion in the comments.

Combating the "You should get out of the house more" mentality at At the Well - why being shut in with our kids because of the snow, ice and cold may not be a bad thing.

And, some amazing posts on the joy of repentance and grace in this Lenten season over at A Holy Experience - When a Family Needs a Fresh Start: Making a Place of Repentance and A Family Activity for Lent: A Box of Repentances. Ann's writing makes me cry.

And, have you heard of the magazine, Seeing: The Everyday? Take a look at their site - amazing photos of everyday life, seeing the beauty and teachable moments in simple, ordinary things. I'm intrigued!

The Family Magazine

SEEING THE EVERYDAY

Goals for 2010

If you aim for nothing, you'll hit it every time. - Unknown

It's only taken me the entire month of January to come up with them! Which, of course, only leaves me 11 more months to accomplish them...ahhhh, procrastination never pays. I've decided to set goals for myself in 2010 as opposed to resolutions. Resolutions, well, they just seem made to be broken. Goals, as long as they are realistic and attainable, are much more my speed - something to work towards. So, here goes...

Spiritual (ok, I could get philosophical and say everything in life is spiritual, but I won't get into that here) :

Be in the Word everyday. By, "the Word", I mean God's Word. And, by "everyday", I do mean everyday. But, as opposed to other years, I am giving myself grace in this. In the past I have resolved to stick to a certain daily reading plan or to read through the whole Bible in a year. But, when I would get behind, I would feel as if I failed somehow, get discouraged and days, even weeks would go by without really reading my Bible. To read God's Word is to get to know Him better, to hear from Him, to find purpose in life. In the end, it doesn't matter how much I've read each day, just that I've spent time with my Heavenly Father. Please note, I applaud those who have the discipline to stick to a reading plan, I even recommend them. I am praying God will continue to grow me in this area, and for now, I am taking baby steps in that direction.

Pray. Ok, I'm not really sure how to make this a measurable goal. But, I have been more convinced in the past year that God hears our prayers, that He is waiting to answer them if we just ask, and perhaps His greatest answer is simply His presence. When I say "I will pray for you" I want to really mean it, and, if possible to do it right then and there. I want prayer to be my first thought instead of my last.

Relational:

Seek to serve. Seek to surprise. I'm keeping this simple, yet I think it will be profound. I posted a couple of months ago about feeling a bit overwhelmed. I took a day to regroup and pray through my priorities, especially in my relationships. One of the resources I used was C.J. Mahaney's series on Biblical Productivity. In it, C.J. states that our goals for relationships should be to serve and surprise, or in other words, to seek another's good above our own and to HAVE FUN and bless in unexpected ways! I like that and I want to keep these 2 things in mind this year. I definitely have sub-goals in regard to my roles as wife, mother, etc. that I may share in a different post.

Health/Nutrition:

Eat fish twice a week. Ok, this one is definitely measurable. As a family, we've been on a journey towards eating more and more real food. In my journey of study, I've also been convinced to reintroduce meat back into my diet (you may remember this post). Fish is chock full of really good fats, especially for women (see why here). So far my favorite is tuna steak, but salmon cakes are pretty tasty too.

Reduce my sugar intake. This one is going to be hard, but the more I read, the more I realize that sugar is NOT GOOD FOR US. Duh, right? But seriously, it's really NOT GOOD FOR US. I'm not going to be a diet-Nazi on this, but do want to consciously reduce the amount of sweet stuff that goes into so much of our food.

Workout 3x/week. After quitting my Y membership in October to try to cut down our budget, I tried to stay fit in creative ways - mall walking (it's hard to keep your heart rate up dodging retirees (no offense to retirees) and lines of other moms pushing strollers), exercise videos at home (I kept running into furniture - ouch!) and just sitting on my duff (mmm, not very effective). So, I renewed my Y membership - needless to say, I am excited to have my Cybex and weight machines again.

Miscellaneous:

Cut down Internet time. Part of my problem of feeling overwhelmed and "busy" has been the amount of screen time I've been taking - Facebook, e-mails, blog-writing, reading blogs, click-after-click...While it definitely has its benefits and life-enriching qualities, after a certain amount of time, it is just a time-waster, especially when it takes time away from the things, and, most importantly, people, that I should be spending that time with (see below). I'm still in process of figuring out how to keep a tight reign on this.

Get back on budget. We used to be really good about this, keeping track of spending down to the cent (ok, maybe a bit OCD). Since Nora was born, we've gotten lazy and just aren't telling our money what to do like we should be. So time to reevaluate where our money is going and dust off the ol' budget spreadsheet.

Have a reading list and stick to it. I like to read, but I have a hard time staying focused on one book at a time. The result - I am usually reading about 5 books at a time, of which I rarely finish 1, or, when I finish it, I can hardly remember what the beginning was about. So, I am developing a list of books to read one-at-a-time. I may even throw in a fiction book this year! Any recommendations?

I know I have more goals/changes swimming around in my mind 2010, but for now these are what I can remember. It is so good to have them written out and to share them with you all (because that means I can't pretend I didn't make them). What are your goals for 2010? How do you want to grow?

Indeed, in all of this, I know it will be God's work that does the changing, God's work that does the growing!

Another Way to Help Babies in Haiti

I'm sure most of you have been watching in horror and great sadness the pictures and stories of devastation in Haiti. As always, the smallest and weakest are hardest hit - the children. A friend recently highlighted the need to get orphans out of the ravaged country to families that will love and care for them - you can read here, here and see this video.

I just came across another way to help babies still in the country. A way that mothers here in the U.S. can help provide life for little ones who desperately need it:

Donating Breastmilk for Babies in Haiti

Ergo Baby Carrier Giveaway

I'm a big fan of Nicki's Diapers, that's where I've purchased all of our cloth diapers and several other baby items - the best prices I could find online. They do weekly giveaways of cloth diaper items and other baby gear - I even won a diaper cover (and I NEVER win stuff like this).

If you're interested in baby-wearing, this week's giveaway is for an Ergo baby carrier. With Nora, I had a Baby Bjorn, a wrap and a sling, but have heard awesome things about these carriers. So, take a look and enter the giveaway if you're interested. I did!

Real life.

After my last post, I was convicted, then I read a friend's blog post and was VERY convicted.

So often, when I read the blogs of friends and strangers, I get a picture in my mind of what their lives must be like...

* filled with well-prepared, nutritious and perfectly-presented meals,

* kids who are always smiling and well-behaved,

* homes that never have dust-bunnies, refrigerator science experiments or "what is that SMELL coming from the garbage?!"

* hours of nightly family Bible studies, deep, insightful, life-changing dinner-table discussions...

...you get the picture. And, it's easy for me to compare, get down on myself and think "Gosh, I am falling so short." After posting about my bread-baking, I thought, if I was reading that on someone else's blog, I would probably think "yeah, right, like I have time for THAT!" The truth is, I have been wanting to bake bread like that for several months, and it probably won't happen again any time soon!

But truly, blog life is just glimpses of our real lives - what we want the outside world to see (and let's be honest, with a blog the outside world could be anybody). Maybe it is also how we want to remember our lives when we look back in a year or more. Some folks just show pieces of their lives - cooking, home remodeling projects, crafting, theology. Others are brutally transparent and are an open book. I know for me, this blog is a way to record life, motivate me in many areas, but also to find beauty and joy in the mundane things I do from day-to-day.

I was recently inspired by a lady who humbly posted a picture of her dirty, in-need-of-scrubbing toilet on Facebook just to show the world that she didn't have it all together and that was ok. I often say that I feel more comfortable in people's homes when there are dirty dishes in the sink - it just feels more homey, real, like we are part of the family. So, here goes, some real life...

What my floors look like most days. No one warned me, before I became a mom, of the insidiousness of Cheerios (I find them, quite literally, EVERYWHERE in our house).

Unfortunately, more of this has been happening at our house than I'd like to admit. I wish I could say that my daughter never saw a television screen before the age of two, but Baby Einstein seems to be the only way to keep Nora from wanting to play in the garbage or empty the pantry while I'm making dinner!

Folks, this is about as bad as it gets.

Yes, that is my lower half. Yes, those are wool hiking socks, 15-year old Birkenstocks and some workout capries covered in flour. This is what my hubby came home to the day I made bread. Thankfully, I recently found this website. P.S. Please, don't nominate me for "What Not to Wear".

So, there you have it. A little bit of my daily dirt to balance out my last Suzy Homemaker post. Such a reminder of how abundantly gracious God is. He is teaching me how to better mother my daughter, but forgives me for the occasional mind-numbing, t.v.-babysitting session. He daily romances me despite my dirty workout wear, Birkenstocks and what you couldn't see in the picture. And, though my floors may be covered in cereal dust, He is slowly, but surely, cleaning and polishing my heart just for Himself.

On My 31st Birthday.

Today I turn 31. A year ago I turned 30. Well, duh. But last year, Nora was just barely a month old and I was still living on only a few hours of sleep and figuring out which way was up. Thang and I went out for sushi that night, our first date after Nora was born. But honestly, I was thinking about my newborn the entire time. I think we were both in a daze.

So, I feel like I never really turned 30. And now, I'm 31! I'm no longer just dipping my toes in my 30's, my feet are planted squarely in my 30's - yikes! But, I still feel like I'm 15. How does that happen?

I'm stealing this idea from several blogging friends, but here are 31 facts about me in approximate chronological order:

1. I was born in Methodist Hospital, Omaha, Nebraska - the same hospital I gave birth to my own daughter nearly 30 years later.

2. I was a breech baby, so my mom had a c-section. I was a little squirt, only 5 lbs. 15 oz.

3. My only sister, Jenny, was born when I was 2 1/2.

4. When I was 3, we moved to Des Moines, Iowa where my dad owned a Godfather's Pizza franchise. We only lived there 1 year.

5. My first memory is of watching my sister falling down the stairs - rolling head-over-heels. I was 3, she was 1. Guess it was traumatic!

6. My mom bought me my first pair of safety scissors when I was 3. When we got home from the store I went into my bedroom and promptly cut off my bangs down to my scalp.

7. When I was 4, we moved back to Omaha to the house I grew up in, on Old Cherry Road.

8. I got my first pair of glasses in the 2nd grade.

9. That year, we also got our childhood dog, a miniature Schnauzer named Gucci Poochi.

10. My favorite teacher of all time was Mrs. Hanshaw in 3rd grade. She sang songs to help us remember our fractions and told silly stories and encouraged me in my storywriting. She and my mom worked to promote me to a higher reading group and saw my potential - my other teachers had assumed I was slow because I was such a quiet kid.

11. In 3rd grade I also got braces.

12. My least favorite year of school was by far 7th grade, I got a stomach-ache every Sunday night knowing I had to go back to Junior High. I would gladly repress 7th grade.

13. I was never into sports. I hated gym class. But, I did take dance lessons for 12 years and loved it.

14. In 9th grade I FINALLY got rid of my braces and got contacts. I was like a new person.

15. In high school I was involved with the Literary Magazine, German Club, Earth Club and Amnesty International. I know, a nerd, but a cool, non-conformist nerd. ; )

16. Most of my clothes in high school were bought at the Goodwill, Salvation Army or various other second-hand stores.

17. Through high school, I had a group of 5 close girlfriends. We did everything together and made great, goofy memories.

18. My senior year of high school I spent as an exchange student in Rheingau, Germany. I still to this day can't believe I did it. It was totally out of character for this homebody. Still definitely one of the hardest things I've ever done, but am so glad I did.

19. I attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and majored in Sociology and Environmental Studies with minors in German and Geography.

20. My first dorm room was the very same room my mom had lived in 25 years earlier, in Sandoz Hall.

21. At the beginning of my junior year of college, I made the decision to follow Jesus. The best decision I've ever made!

22. I got involved with a campus ministry called, The Navigators, which helped get me planted in my relationship with Christ and begin to learn what it meant to be His disciple.

23. I ran a half-marathon my senior year, well almost, I made it 12.5 miles before passing out flat-on-my-back from dehydration.

24. After graduating I had no idea what to do with my life, so after taking a year off, I moved to Champaign, Illinois to study Urban Planning.

25. I had really wanted to study in Oregon, but got better funding in Illinois.

26. Thank goodness, because in my first few weeks in Illinois, I met Thang. I thought he was the most handsome man I had ever met!

27. In January of 2002, Thang and I and some other friends went to a ski conference in Vermont. Evidently, this is when he "fell for me". We started dating in April (what took him so long?!), were engaged in January 2003.

28. In June of 2003, we were married in Illinois.

29. Our first home together was a 400 square foot converted garage, we called "The Cottage".

30. In 2005, we moved back to Omaha, I started my job working for the City of Omaha as a City Planner and we bought our first home.

31. In 2008, I gave birth to our baby girl, Nora, had 2 1/2 glorious/grueling months of maternity leave, went back to work for 3 very long months and finally quit my job to stay home.

So, there you have it. Probably more info. about me than you ever wanted to know!

My day as a blog.

For those of you who have been blogging awhile, or have thought about starting a blog, or read a lot of blogs, do you ever find yourself thinking "I should totally blog about this."? Since starting this blog, everything becomes "bloggable" and my days are becoming one long running commentary in my head. So, because I'm having trouble finishing some "deeper" blog posts, here was my day in short blog snippets...

"Singin' the Post-Vacation Blues" - unpacking is no fun, the cupboards and fridge are bare, too lethargic to do much of anything. I thought vacation was supposed to be reinvigorating?

"The Perils of Purse-Buying" - practical or trendy? big or small? black, brown or color? I always have purse-buyer's remorse. I bought a mom-friendly, red satchel with lots of pockets. I will probably end up taking it back.

"Who Said Customer Service is Dead?" - I actually had great customer service by the checkers at all four stores I shopped at today. I mean, they actually seemed genuinely happy to see me. I took note of their names and may make a call to their managers.

"Healthy Grocery Shopping on a Budget" - today was grocery shopping day, stops at Baker's and Whole Foods. I may actually post on this some time, but for now our cupboards are stocked once more.

"Recipe of the Day - Peanut Thai Noodle Salad" - mmmm, yummy dinner, but leaves your breath smelling like garlic for days.

"To Bed, To Bed, It's Off to Bed I Go" - actually going to get to bed before midnight for the first time in a long while. Thang starts back to school tomorrow, so we must all get our rest!

Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!

When you need a little levity...

I couldn't help myself but post this link. My favorites were posted on July 6th and July 8th, can you guess which ones? Enjoy!

Jumping in!

So, I have been throwing around the idea of starting a blog for quite some time. I remember first hearing the term "blog" maybe 9 years ago and thinking, "who in the world would want to read something like that?!". And, now, not a day goes by that I don't read about the birth of a friend's baby, find a fabulous new recipe or receive a call to pray by reading the blogs of friends and strangers. I am terrible at journaling, so, one of my biggest reasons for starting this is just to keep a record of life. Life seems to go by faster and faster and it's amazing to look back to see where God has brought us. So, come along with us if you'd like, and feel free to throw out a comment here and there!