All I Need

This week is VBS for our church and the Mr & I were asked to lead the missions part for the youth.  This task is not as easy as it seems.  We are to come up with ideas for the youth to be involved in some way or another with someone else's life... to sum it up... but to do it from the space of the youth room.  This leaves us with writing cards, drawing things, etc.  I have been praying about ways for God to use our limited time to impact the lives of these children- not just the youth but every child who enters the doors of the church for VBS.  Last night was incredible for me... and it's not because it was all happiness and flowers.  Working with the youth can be daunting because they are at an age where they are trying to figure out life and make friends and fit in.  Last night I met one kid (i say kid but he is going into high school next year) and I was touched by his story, what little he shared with me.  It got me thinking that there are so many people who we meet everyday that we think we have pinned a certain way because of how they look on the outside.  I remember learning in 2nd grade that we "Don't Judge a Book by It's Cover" and although it didn't really make sense to me at the time, it began making more sense as I got older.  A lesson my friend at VBS learned last night...
I was humbled that God would use me for such a small lesson last night with just one person.  Then this morning I was answering the call of civic duty, jury duty.  We gather in one court room for people to look at us, hear what we do and decide if we are good enough to sit before them for a court case.  There were 10 rows of people and not one of us was alike.  One man asked me how I was doing, to which I responded "I'm fabulous, thanks. How are you?" And he said "You can't be fabulous.. you are in jury duty."  I just felt like God had called me to be there that day... I nicely told that man I could be in places a lot worse than where I was and I have to many blessings not to be fabulous.  But as I sat in that room, I began to hear about people in my community.  Their names, their jobs, if they had a spouse and what their spouse did for a living... as many know from being called to jury duty.  So many of us were "unemployed" and my heart broke for a man who said he was unemployed and his wife was a stay at home mom... which meant they had children.  My how we take for granted every little penny we receive at times for our own materialistic needs and desires.  I pray that this gentleman will get a job and be able to take care of his family like I'm sure he wants to.  One thing I've learned, after having a baby, is that men have such a strong desire to lead their families and want to provide but it is so easy for them to get discouraged from one bad comment or an interview with no call back.  Today just went completely opposite of what I anticipated and for that I am thankful.  I have realized that when I stop worrying about my problems, like I always do, I am able to be focused on where God is leading and what God is doing.  When I focus on just HIS will I can truly be the servant he wants me to be... He is all I need. I am so thankful to have a husband who loves me and tells me every day, a baby who is sooo stinking precious I could just eat her up, a church family that prays for me and with me and allows me to serve in the ways that I can and I am thankful for the people I meet along the way...  they all make this possible, the realization that I am always in need of my Savior's love.  I know this was random but I just wanted to share.  I should have new pictures of Miss O soon!! XO

Yummy in her Tummy!

As much as it pains me to watch my sweet Miss O grow up, I do enjoy the new adventures.  We get to experience so many of the "firsts" and it is so fun! At her 4 month check up, Miss O's pediatrician said we could introduce cereal at 5 months (which will be next week!) and so we decided to do it a little bit early. I did some additional research on the world wide web about introducing solids and I stumbled upon this checklist on babycenter.com about it.  Here is what it said....

How will I know when my baby's ready?
Your baby will give you clear signs when (s)he's ready to move beyond liquid-only nourishment. Cues to look for include:
•Head control. Your baby needs to be able to keep his head in a steady, upright position. 
•Losing the "extrusion reflex." To keep solid food in his mouth and then swallow it, your baby needs to stop using his tongue to push food out of his mouth.
•Sitting well when supported. Even if he's not quite ready for a highchair, your baby needs to be able to sit upright to swallow well.
•Chewing motions. Your baby's mouth and tongue develop in sync with his digestive system. To start solids, he should be able to move food to the back of his mouth and swallow. As he learns to swallow efficiently, you may notice less drooling – though if your baby's teething, you might still see a lot of drool.
•Significant weight gain. Most babies are ready to eat solids when they've doubled their birth weight (or weigh about 15 pounds) and are at least 4 months old.
•Growing appetite. He seems hungry – even with eight to ten feedings of breast milk or formula a day.
•Curiosity about what you're eating. Your baby may begin eyeing your bowl of rice or reaching for a forkful of fettuccine as it travels from your plate to your mouth.

After reading this and talking/emailing with a sweet friend, who eased my fears, I purchased some  rice cereal and thought we'd give it a whirl.  Boy, was she ready!!  She enjoyed every last bit of her cereal.

baby in the highchair ready for some yumminess

face is clean. bib is clean.

very first taste.. she spit most of it out.

getting into this whole thing. taking control of the situation

Shooter McGavin

keep it coming!!

so exciting... we weren't feeding her fast enough.

yummies

get in my belly!!



this is how things get messy



such a happy way to start the weekend.

one last bite.

out of food already?! oh dear.

a double dose of fun

The series of events that led us to a doctor's visit were simple enough to me.  Mother's Intuition. While she was sleeping she was making some noises on the monitor I had not heard before.  Since she has been here with us we both go through a little cold/ sinus thing every now and then... about once a month.  We had already propped up her mattress to elevate her head, put a humidifier in her bedroom and used the nose aspirator over and over again.  I am no stranger to her making stuffy type noises.  However, this night was different.  I wasn't overly worried but I just noted that something was different.  I put a little Vick's vapor rub on her chest (for babies of course) and she seemed like she was not bothered.  The next morning when she woke up she just didn't seem herself.  She wasn't crying like she was in terrible pain or anything... but something was not right.  I couldn't even describe to the triage nurse at the ped's office what I was worried about... other than things are not the same.  So they had us bring her in for a visit just to check and see. She was happy and smiling, playing with the paper on the table in the office... the doctor came in and started checking her out.  The second she checked her ears, the screams that came out of Miss O's mouth were of pain! :(   As her parents, we both got a little teary eyed just listening to her scream in pain.  Double ear infection!! I knew I wasn't crazy... she was not exactly the same as normal.  She has been prescribed some antibiotics and is due back for a check up in 2 weeks.  She seems happy now, not that she wasn't happy before the diagnosis.  She has been napping a lot more but luckily that has not changed her night time sleeping habits (still sleeping through the night.. 8pm to about 7:30am).  So that was our latest adventure.  Apparently another baby in her daycare had the same kind of situation last week.  Hopefully this won't be a trend of all the babies having issues. xo

even before antibiotics she is smiling with her daddy

bath time fun with her octopus friend.

does not care too much for the "bubble gum" flavored medicine

paci: check
owl lovie: check
ready for bed

Summer lovin'

So far our SC summer has been very lovely.  I know July & August are always our hotter months but these past June days have been delightful.  Highs in the 80's with some rain every now and then.  I love that I am able to wear jeans all day without dying from the heat. Sometimes it worries me that I am under-dressing or over-dressing Miss O.  If all else fails- I minimally dress her and throw on a blanket.  Another way that makes it difficult for me to tell if she is too hot or too cold are her little tootsies (feet).  She can have cold feet but they are so sweaty.. of course when they are hot they are sweaty too.  Her feet just always sweat.

Our first father's day was great- laid back & relaxing like the Mr. would want.  Miss O and I woke up nice and early to surprise him with a hose (a garden hose for his rain barrel) and some cards.  We went to church, had lunch with Hils, Jeremy & Kiera and then went to a pool party at some friend's house! Miss O loves the pool.  She was kicking and splashing.  We really need to get her one of those floats but she isn't able to sit up on her own yet so I feel more comfortable just holding on to her. We had a fabulous time and Miss O looked darling in her swim gear.  xo

Miss O + Tio Jeremy bonding

look at all that hair coming in. exciting stuff.

Miss O + Titi Hilary

playing on Father's Day

Toy #1

Toy # 2

Toy # 3



Food coma. Father's Day

heading to a pool party

she loves her shades.

hanging with Jessie

Miss O & Yaya

sweet baby cakes

Love!!

Like mother, like daughter

When I was a kid

It is really interesting for me to think about all the things I experienced growing up that Miss O will never know or experience [unless we inform her of these things]. I know things change and there are things my mom experienced that I did not experience.  But I want to document a few things Hils & I have talked about.

Miss O will never experience:

- Payphones: there is a popular song right now is a song entitled Payphone by Maroon 5 i think...when was the last time you saw or used an actual payphone? I think for me it was middle school.

- 35mm film: taking your pictures to a film developer or sending them off [that is what we did in PR] and waiting a week or two for your pictures to come back. 

- Desktop computers: I remember our first computer- black backdrop and green colored font with a dot matrix printer that had paper you had to tear apart yourself.  I'm sure electronics will be more compact when Miss O grows up.  Can you remember when a computer took up an entire desk area?

- Floppy disks:  I remember floppy disks being on the school supply list.  I found an old one when looking through a box from my parent's house of my belongings.  Who knows what is on that disk... I wish I could open it and see! Now we use USB's for storage..

- Home phones (wired or wireless): My parents have always had a home phone and still do I think.  Since the Mr & I have been married we have never had a home phone because we both have cell phones. We have talked about getting a home phone but I think we decided against it... just another expense. You don't need a home phone to have an alarm system, cable or internet.

- VCR & tapes:  I have some videos on tape and home videos we made through my childhood.  I think there are still VCR's that are sold in stores.. but honestly, how much longer will they still sell those things??  I remember recording on tapes different shows I wanted to see but wasn't going to be home.  Now you can DVR or watch shows online if you missed them.

-Instant Messaging (any type of messaging on the computer):  Before cell phones and texting became the big thing, my friends and I would create chat rooms online and have AIM where we could leave status updates or away messages so our friends knew where we were. I mean... if you think about it, texting will soon be a thing of the past because everyone may have video chatting available on their cell phones soon enough... like face time on the iPhone.

-Movies that are NOT 3D.  I feel like every movie coming out now is coming out in 3D. I certainly hope this isn't the case but I feel like it will be.  Just to document.. a movie at Sandhills Regal Cinema in SC cost $10.  When I was in middle school I remember paying just $5.25 for a movie ticket.

- Video camera's that sit on your shoulder for home use.  We were fortunate to receive a camcorder for Christmas and it is about the size of my first Nokia cell phone (the one where you could change the keys and face plate).  When I was younger, we had video cameras that used tapes and were so bulky and big my mom had to rest it on her shoulder.  Instead of tapes or cds, my camcorder uses a small memory card... it is crazy!


That is all I can think of for now.  Feel free to add anything you think of and of course I will always think of things Miss O will never experience because of changes in our culture and society. XO

Oh the places you will go, my sweet girl.

a growth spurt weekend

So we are pretty confident in saying that Miss O went through a growth spurt this weekend.  She ate, ate, ate and she slept, slept, slept.   We did not mind the sleeping part.  Saturday she slept in until 8:40am and then Sunday she slept in until 9:20am.  Of course when she sleeps in, we sleep in!  Our weekend was very low key and we do enjoy having plenty of time together as a family. Of course I snapped some pictures of Miss O from the last few days to share.

love waking up to this face & love her lady bug pajamas

sitting up is all she wants to do (with help)

starting to like tummy time ... at least for a little while.

plotting her escape

maybe this plan will work again...  sadly she was still stuck in the chair. 

mommy + baby pool party with our bath tub serving as the pool.

Enough of the sitting

This little girl is going to take off running... if she could.  Right now her head is too big for her body and she is still learning to work with that (the circumference of her head was in the 70th percentile at her 4 month check up).  She is going through a little phase of not wanting to be put down or not wanting to be in the seated position (like in her bumbo chair).   If she is in a seated position she wants to just put her feet down and stand, with the assistance of a big person to hold her hands.  She has changed so much in 4 sweet months.  I will also mention that we have started putting her on the potty before bath time.  When we get her ready for her bath every night I noticed a pattern of her peeing either on the Mr or peeing in the bath.  So I decided to hold her over the big girl potty and see if she peed... and she has... 4 different times.   I'm not trying to get her potty trained unrealistically but I do want to encourage her to use the potty and get her comfortable with it.  Anyway... Miss O is fabulous as always.  Here are a few pictures from the past week... the many faces and expressions of Miss O continued.  xo



some tummy time



lifting her big head is exhausting



probably looking at her daddy

a side view with her feet. probably my favorite thing to see.

learning about body parts from her puppy & frog friends. Ipads are genious & fabulous!!

some exercise time with our kitty sophie jr watching on



just a little too short to reach the ground so she jumps on a pillow



so much to entertain babies



more tummy time

this is her pouty face... she has a tough life obviously.

hair coming in nice and thick!!

latest trend: does not want to sit. get her out of this chair!

she is trying hard to get out of this chair. put her feet down and straighten her back

hanging in her high chair- strapped in so she can't go anywhere.