spring fling

who wouldn't want these insanely romantic felted slippers?!

I found them on etsy.com made by some very talented woman in lithuania.

sigh. they are so beautiful.

spring can't come soon enough. wouldn't these have been an amazing valentines gift??

musings

I am sitting here wondering why I have been so lazy about any sort of journaling activites for this baby. It's not like I don't have the time because I type pretty fast so how hard can it be to lay down a few paragraphs about (once again) going through the incredible experience of pregnancy? Maybe I'm just lazy. I'm twenty-six weeks now, that is hard enough to believe in itself. This time around is going quickly! I am a little daunted at the thought of my schedule toward the end of the pregnancy (possible move to new neighborhood, church being farther away, lining up new school for trinity, etc.) so I am choosing to somewhat live in denial that I will get enormous, uncomfotable, tired, and grouchy pretty soon here. He who is to be named eventually has been a very active child in the womb which I have a love/hate relationship with. I love the bonding that occurs knowing everything is all right and he is growing and wiggling but I will say the third time around that some of those punches downright annoy me! I also seem to be in denial that my body may never recover from a third. lol. I have even gone so far as to purchase an expensive pair of shorts that MUST fit for my beach vacation in August (two months after baby). It can happen right? I definately plan to beach comb in my beachcomber shorts from CAbi. Ha Haa. Anyway, back to baby. He should be nine-ish inches long and about two pounds right now. I find myself wondering if this one will have blue or brown eyes, etc. I must admit I'm not even sure what I want. Trinity's eye color is just so incredible but I think some darker hair might be in order. Blake the traitor has gotten lighter each year and is now approaching what some would call blonde. grr. for reference allow me to add an older picture when he was about 7 mo. look how much darker!

If I am going to post a pic of blake of course have to post an oldie of trin. here she is at the age of irresistableness. (is that a word?)

I feel like it's a little overwhelming to think of daipers and breastfeeding just yet, so I am going to keep focusing on the pregnancy progress instead of once he gets here. Being in the third trimester I am beginning to look forward to the birth part, and shows like baby story are catching my attention more and more. They are as good as a birth class right? I mean, I've been down this road before right? All I need to know about delivering I learned from baby story. . .? Ah well so anyway, I rub my belly a lot this time around. Constant touch keeps me grounded and excited about eventually getting to hold this little guy. I am grateful that this year has been all about trusting the Lord to provide for us. I feel fortunate to still have the essentials from blake and trinity but still look forward buying something here and there in preparation. His brother and sister will be ready too! Blake does yoga with me and follows my position around so that he can stay in contact with my belly. He talks to the baby and pats him and kisses him totally randomly, it is so adorable. Here is to hoping that our soon to be party of five is the perfect party for us.



Practice makes Perfect

Yesterday Trinity spent about two hours "practicing" with her baby doll. She wrapped it in blankets and layed it down to nap, asked me how to burp it, and tried about six ways to hold it. It was so cute. She is serious about being ready to take care of baby brother. Here is a pic; she's going to be the best big sister ever. I love her sweet and nurturing character. I'm pretty sure she dipslays way more of it than I ever did at her age.

Valentines, Short Stories, and Folgers Jingles

Happy Valentines Day!

I love God. I love my parents and my siblings. I love my husband. I love my children. I love my unborn son. I love Jesus and I am not ashamed! I just had to say that. I'm not the most dynamic person at verbally expressing my affection and I forget that people need to reminded of how much I love them. Yesterday was a good day to do that but today is too; and every day. I am wearing a heart pin blake made me at sunday school. I am happy.

We had no valentines plans and I have learned as a lover of giving gifts not to necessarily expect the same in return. This has been a valuable lesson for my marriage. So instead I decided on a somewhat mutual love language for us, quality time. It was 9:45 in the morning (valentines day) so I went to wake my husband up for work (yes he keeps strange hours). I was starting to feel a little mopey that our 9th valentines would be so blah so I tried a last minute plan and it worked! I cajoled jeremy into getting up and ready quick and with blake in tow we headed to a local coffee shop that jer had never been to. It was great to just sit with my boys and enjoy a cupa joe. I guess you would call me easily pleased and Jeremy commented that "all it takes is a coffee" but that's not so. I was happiest that we were hanging out together. I even got to put my hand on his leg (still makes me feel flirty). Yes, it was doing what I like to do but we all know most boys get what they like to do on valentines too so I thought it fair play. I wouldn't mind if we did more timeouts like that, in fact I aim to move it up on my list of to-dos. I really do think Valentines is my favorite holiday besides christmas

on a shorter note, I have been reading a compilation of short stories. They are such a different breed from novels. Packed with energy and emotion in such a short space. Everything has to be said immediately and even more than that is left unsaid. I find myself mulling them over and wondering about all of the what if's after only a glimpse of the full tale. I must say I enjoy them but why are so many melonchaly? Someone explain this please.

on the shortest note, stay tuned as my sister attempts to win the folgers jingle contest and a trip to new york to record a commercial. Go nat!!! (no the pic is not her but it WILL be) did I mention they are finishing a home recording studio? yeah baby.

My Take

As I was debating on which bible study I would begin for spring session at church (the book of James: study written by Shelly Smith or a Beth Moore study on David) I thought perhaps I ought to pull out the only beth moore study I have done and go back over the workbook to refresh my memory on the style of her homework. The study I did two summers ago was called Stepping Up: a journey through the psalms of ascent. One of her assignments was rewriting psalms with our own take on them. As much as we were to keep to the point/feeling/subject of the psalm we were still encouraged to add personal experience/emotion to them. I remember this being one of my favorite activites but what I didn't realize would be how relevant they are to my current situation with my church body. When I read Psalm 122 I knew I had to post it here. It's my heart for evergreen christian fellowship, my brothers and sisters in Christ.


Psalm 122
A song of ascents. Of David.
1 I rejoiced with those who said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the LORD.”
2 Our feet are standing
in your gates, Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem is built like a city
that is closely compacted together.
4 That is where the tribes go up—
the tribes of the LORD—
to praise the name of the LORD
according to the statute given to Israel.
5 There stand the thrones for judgment,
the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you be secure.
7 May there be peace within your walls
and security within your citadels.”
8 For the sake of my family and friends,
I will say, “Peace be within you.”
9 For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek your prosperity.

I won't share my take on it but instead I simply change jerusalem to my church name. May we have leadership like David and members like the migthy men! Surely the Lord will not leave us in our current state  but is pressing us, molding us, and motivating us to be more refined in our faith/fellowship/function. It is not easy and it is not fun but there is no lack of prayer on our behalf and hope is mine in Him. I encourage you to find a psalm that addresses something in your life and make it your own. It's truly a blessing!

Stranger things

Last night I sat up in bed and "watched" the baby for a while. I am sure glad that I know it's a baby and that I know that it's ADORABLE because otherwise I would be totally freaked out. Nothing like a completely involuntary jumping bean stomach to make you feel a little bit STRANGE. The experience is so incredibly unique, just try explaining it to your husband. Well I did, (and made him watch for a few minutes) and the look he gave me after that made me think intimacy may not be in the future for a few days. After all alien posession really happens people, didn't you see the movies? Mwahahahahaahaha.

Superwomen?!

Here is the link to one of my favorite blogs.
http://thefarmchicks.typepad.com/

She is a gal local to where I grew up and she is doing amazing things with her business, FARM CHICKS. I follow her blog and find it absolutely amazing that on top of raising her family and running a business she finds time to BLOG about it. I mean, who are we kidding? I've had delusions of grandeur before about starting up a business of some kind, perhaps I even made the effort to blog about my future plans/ideas but to actually accomplish it and then blog about it? Yeah, hasn't happened yet. I've always known I'm not an ambitious person but sometimes I wonder if it doesn't border on laziness. I've always assumed that if I found something I was really passionate about I would find a way to make it happen, whatever "it" was.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/note.php?note_id=140132931688

That has not happened either. That being said. . .
I am so impressed by these "do it all" type women and I intend not to beat myself up but to use it as inspiration.
Okay, so that was the idea. Then Jeremy gets home and tells me about his new employee (a female, I knew that) she has already begun a company on her own (that is successful - some sort of jewelry sorter/holder, I knew that too) and has two children (pumps breastmilk for the 10 mo. old), did NOT know that) and only wants to work four days a week so she can manage company/family/ two jobs but has a killer background in marketing and wants to do great things for bill4time. say what?!? enough already! You're killing me. No more uber moms! I would NEVER say that I hope they are one step away from a nervous breakdown because that is terrible and I don't really wish it however. . . I want the red bull they MUST be drinking. oh yeah. that must be it. you think?