Friday, November 21, 2014

Five on Friday

It's been a while since I did a random culmination Friday post, so here goes.

1. I love the library and apparently my little lady does too. She hangs out in the stroller while I browse, and she seems to intuit that she needs to keep her coos to a minimum, so she just smiles up at me. Trips to the library also mean that this momma is getting back to her prolific reading habits, which is good news.

2. We went shopping yesterday and used some birthday money to get new jeans for me. We also picked up this brand of diapers for our upcoming Thanksgiving trip. Has anyone used them before? Are they great? I hope so because our preferred brand was out of stock.
3. Thanksgiving is coming! And my Husband will be off school all week. Which is extra needed/appreciated because he is conducting the music for his school's musical this week. We miss Daddy at home and he misses seeing our baby when she's awake.

4. We're planning to travel for part of Thanksgiving week and I'm semi-dreading the long hours in the car with an increasingly alert baby. We have one of these mobiles (that we got in our Citrus Lane box) to distract her, and I'm hoping that will make the parts of the trip when she's awake a bit more enjoyable.

5. I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving food, but since moving out of my parents' house, I also appreciate the holidays because I don't have to cook. That's even more of a gift this year since our post-baby lifestyle means 95% of our meals are prepped and eaten at home. Hooray for dirtying someone else's dishes for a few days!

Have an awesome weekend, and I'll see you back here next week or the week after.

I'm linking up with these great bloggers today:



Thursday, November 13, 2014

Five months

November 13, 2014


Dear child of mine,

You've been in my arms for five whole months now, and I think it's sinking in that I'm really a mom. I had a similar experience my junior year in high school when I realized I was actually in high school, that magical time of life depicted by Saved by the Bell and Boy Meets World. I'm glad it hasn't taken quite as long to realize that my dream of being a mom is an actuality, not just some distant, not-yet-attainable state of being. Oh, and the best part is that I get to be your mom.You're beautiful and generally happy, and your laugh is adorable. I cannot capture in this letter how many people have told us you're beautiful (as they should tell all mothers to be polite) and then emphasized that they really mean it because you really are gorgeous.
Beyond that, you seem to have a great sense of humor and be extremely intelligent. Your favorite things to laugh at include people pretending to eat your hands, Momma getting really close to your face while making weird noises, and sneaking up on me while in Daddy's arms. You sometimes gasp-laugh, which involves taking in entirely too much air and then squeak-squealing. Your intelligence shines through when you look in the direction of people's voices and always stop what you are doing when the theme song of Gilmore Girls comes on and wait for me to sing to you.
We're figuring out a nap/sleep schedule, but you still like to eat every 4 hours or so, which seems to work for you, but is kind of getting old for me in the middle of the night. You usually take 3 naps during the day (one a couple of hours after you wake up, one around 2 or 3, and then one around 5) and go to bed between 7 and 8 after Daddy gives you a bath. You wear mostly 6-9 month clothes, with some 6 month and some 9 month stuff thrown in the mix.
You, my dear, are a travelling dream. We flew again on our own, and you were a delight to be with on the plane. You are developing a tendency to flirt with people every chance you get, and you did demand to stand in my lap and make eyes at the man sitting behind us on the flight home, but we'll talk about that when you're older. I think our trip wore you out because you've been great about napping since we got home.
Your family and friends adore you, and Rose recently pointed out that you have the best nose and ears. You're pretty much the best all around, and Momma and Daddy love you. We're trying to model to you how much we need Jesus, and how much he loves us all. Remember that we're not perfect, but we are trying every day to live in his grace and give you our best.

Keep smiling, my wonderful girl,
Momma

Shingles and a Wedding Shower

My "post twice a week" goal went out the window last week when I started feeling crummy and then was diagnosed with shingles. No, I am not in the typical age demographic of shingles sufferers, and those commercials did not prepare me for the pain and itchiness that I am enduring.
Apparently, shingles affects people with weakened immune systems, which could be the result of, say, not getting more than three concurrent hours of sleep in the past five months. Consider yourself informed, and we'll move on from there. This weekend was my sister's bridal shower at the church where we grew up, and she was richly blessed with lots of people there to support her and lots of wonderful presents.
Baby girl and I were able to fly in for the weekend, shingles and all, and we had some good quality family time and rest time (for me). It kind of made the whole "my little sister is getting married" thing seem imminent. Thankfully we love her fiancee (fiance? where do the accents go?) and it's fun celebrating two such great people embarking on a great adventure.

The happy couple was pretty excited about their her mixer. It's a beautiful teal color.

Our mom is gorgeous. Hooray for good genes, right?

Me, baby, and my sister. Spit up stains on my dress courtesy of the little one.

I'd say a few people care about them.