Update and Mommy Time-Out

I can't believe it's been over a year since I last blogged. Here's some updates in our home:

1. Madilyn is now 19 months old...which explains why I haven't had lots of extra time to blog. :) She's the most precious little thing EVER. As I type, she's naming all of her body parts to me that she knows...hands, belly button, arms, eyes, nose, ears, knees, feet, etc.

2. We are in the process of moving to Erie, PA, which in and of itself is a HUGE deal! It just hit me yesterday, when we got a contract on our home, that it was actually happening... and in 8 weeks, we are set to "close." Therefore, eight more times for me to go to church. Eight more weeks of me packing lunches for Cameron to eat at the hospital. Eight more times of doing our weekly cleaning job. Eight more weeks of Comedy Wednesday on ABC in our home. Eight more times of clipping Madilyn's fingernails in her little bedroom. Kinda sad! :( Although very exciting too. I'm really going to miss our home here... it's small and kinda ugly (a rent house with plain white walls), but there are so many memories here (i.e. Telling Cameron I'm pregnant, giving Madilyn her first bath, grading papers on the living room floor, learning to cook with Madilyn in her little sling, painting and decorating a nursery, making cupcakes and finding out Cameron got an interview for medical school, etc.). I'm feeling a teeny-bit sentimental. Okay, maybe WAY sentimental! :)

3. I am starting to learn to sew. Well, I actually haven't even sewed anything yet, but I did get my sewing machine threaded, thanks to my favorite sis-in-law, Jenny! :) I'm so excited to learn, and I have lots of thoughts in my head... hoping they turn out as cute when I make them for real!

4. God has been showing me a lot about having a "Mommy Time-Out." I feel like many times I'm not the person I want to be in situations... for example, when Madilyn disobeys, I don't always respond the way I want to. When things don't look like I think they should, I get discouraged. The Lord reminded me that being a stay-at-home mommy is my ministry. Just like when I worked at the church on staff, I would never go to preach to kids without spending time in the Word each day... that would be CRAZY! In the same way, I've gotta get filled up for the ministry of my home. When you've gotten your baby all bathed and spent time to even dry her hair with a round brush where it's smooth and beautiful, all the laundry is done and put away (which sometimes is a rarity in itself) and then your sweet baby girls pukes all over her carseat, the living room carpet, and her clothes... it's easy to feel discouraged. (If you can't tell, this has happened to me a few times! ha!) But, when I draw from God's grace and mercy, it's all do-able. It's all okay. It's all just a little bump in the road. I've gotta get a storehouse set up of His grace and mercy each day or else I'm drawing from my own strength...and let me tell you ...I'm not very nice without Him. :) He makes me able to love. I am because HE IS.

So, to all you momma's out there. Hang in there. It's okay to have a Mommy Time-Out. You deserve it. You need it. Spend a little time on yourself so you can be better for those around you.

Take time to smell the roses, or just laugh!

Well, to start off, the other day we were at my parent's house, and we decided to get my baby book out to see when I got teeth...the dr. told us Madilyn would probably get teeth around the same time Cameron and I did. Turns out, we were both "late" teethers. Anyway, we found this picture of me (I was one), and it reminded me a little bit of Madilyn. She is only 7 months old, but still... What do YOU think?

The "roses" in my life are sometimes not real roses at all. They're figurative roses...go with me...the sweetest-smelling moments that I have experienced have been with my family. And, it's such a special thing when you can stop and breathe in the moments that so many times we take for granted, so this is what I've been smelling lately. :0)

First off, Madilyn now puts herself to sleep in her bed, instead of me rocking her to sleep. This makes me excited and sad at the same time. She seems like she must be pretty confident because she weens herself from things before I'm ready. LOL Like breastfeeding,...one day she decided she was done, and SHE WAS! Now, she sleeps better when I just lay her in her bed...so I DO! :0)

She now holds her own bottle, and she drinks from a sippy cup during her meals. She eats carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, prunes, applesauce, peaches, and oatmeal. Very impressive!

Madilyn also does the army crawl. She can pretty much manuever herself into any place in the house she wants...but she likes standing much more than being on her tummy. She may be a "walker before a crawler." We'll see.

It's so neat seeing her grow up and change. It's the most amazing thing to be a part of a baby's life...watching her learn and explore new things. It's such a miracle! And, as far as staying home with her goes, I'm loving EVERY minute of it! This is EXACTLY where I want to be. I told a friend who is expecting a baby today, "When you have that sweet baby and hold them in your arms, you'll think, "THIS is what I was created for." God is so amazing...and so are His little treasures.

We had a Blizzard this past weekend (Yes, in March!), and I caught some fun moments of her playing.

Here is Madilyn with her two buddies, Zoey and Maya. All three were ready to go outside and play!

Here she is, playing on our bed!

On a funny note, last night Cameron was working at the hospital (he works the night shift, 7pm to 7am), and I got up to feed Madilyn around 5 a.m., so I called him to see how his evening/early morning was going. I heard the strangest noise. Now, if you know me, I can be startled a little easy...especially when it's nighttime, and my super-strong husband isn't in bed next to me...and sometimes I'm startled even when he IS there. Even so, I heard the strangest sound. It sounded like what you hear on TV cartoons when ghosts are there...."whoooooooOOOOOO! HooooOOOOOO!" You get the point. Anyway, I didn't think I had a ghost...but I thought, "Hmmm....what is that strange sound?" It wasn't coming from the baby monitor...and I was talking to Cameron on the phone while he was working....hmmmmmm. "Cameron, what is that sound? Do you hear it?" Cameron then says, "Oh, THAT sound? That's Sally, the lady I work with who's like 60 years old. She's listening to her I-pod." LOL We both started laughing so hard...the kind of laugh that won't stop when you're exhausted...which we BOTH were. It was definitely a moment to remember. I had tears streaming down my face and I was stuffing my head in my pillow so I wouldn't wake Madilyn who shares the same wall with her bed.

Valentine's Day

We had a great Valentine's Day yesterday. First off, Cameron bought me a box of chocolates, which I love! I like trying every one of them! So, I asked him to get me a small box. Well, he got me a box, but it's a little bigger than I wish. I say this because I know I will eat the whole box...won't take me very long. I have such a weakness when it comes to yummy chocolate with assorted fillings. So, at least I only get a box of chocolates once a year...otherwise my jeans would not fit, I'm sure!

Madilyn made her daddy a card, with my help of course. It made his day. :0) He's such a great daddy! Then, Madilyn decided (LOL) that we needed to make Daddy his favorite cookies, so we baked heart shaped sugar cookies. They turned out delicious! I didn't have a recipe for them, so I went to allrecipes.com and found an excellent one! This is definitely a recipe I will use for Valentine's Days in the future.

Ahhhhhh...the day of love! LOL No, really, we decided to not take a date night on Valentine's Day because it's NOT romantic at all!!! There are always thousands of people rushing around town, crowding restaurants, and standing in lines for movies all at the same time...and the majority of this crowd are teenagers who can't keep their hands off of each other. Yuck. We decided to go on a date on Friday night instead. Say what you will, but I think it's more romantic when you are with the one you love...not with the whole city!

Baby Food...Everywhere!!!

Well, this morning Madilyn and I were playing while Cameron slept (he worked last night). I decided to scoop her up and fly her like an airplane above my head. Apparently, she wanted to let me know it was time for me to take a shower because as soon as she got up there, out came the formula...all over the chair, my hair and my glasses! It was so gross it was hilarious! I started laughing so hard, trying to be quiet, and I HAD to take a picture so Cameron could see what happened! You know you're a mom when...you get puked on, and you take a picture! LOL
Well, she definitely made her point! I took a shower, and she got a bath! She loves her bathtimes! Here is a picture of her playing in her bath towel. I caught her! :0)

We started rice cereal a couple of weeks ago. She didn't like it at first, but the dr. told us we could put a drop of Karo Syrup in it so it doesn't constipate her...and it makes it taste better! She now cries after her cereal is gone...no matter how much I feed her! I keep adding more, thinking maybe she's still hungry, but it doesn't matter how much she gets, it's not enough. She also grabs the spoon right when it gets to her mouth, so by the time she's finished eating, I have rice cereal all over my arms and she has it on her hands, face, neck, and pretty much everywhere she can get it! She's so ready to do all of her eating from a spoon! She absolutely LOVES it! I'm so proud of how she's growing and developing. She amazes us everyday! (She kinda looks like Santa Claus! LOL)

Reflecting

Well, today I turned big 27! Yay! I absolutely love celebrating my birthday...it's probably my favorite day of the year. It's the only day that one can justify picking EVERY activity and EVERY meal without feeling selfish. :0) LOL Anyway, my family made it a very special day.

However, as I think back to all that has happened in the past year, it made me realize that last year, on my 26th birthday, Cameron and I told my family that we were expecting a baby. My how one year can totally transform a lifestyle! Now we have a beautiful baby girl who's already 4 months old! All I can say is I look forward to what God has in store for this year...lots can happen in 365 days...and God's plans are so amazing!

Family

You never realize how much you're missing, until you have kids. Madilyn has just brought Cameron and I so much closer together as a couple...

I'm loving having her here! What a tremendous blessing it is to be a parent.

Tummy Time & Growing Up

Well, as you well know, most babies sleep and really do everything on their backs...since this has reduced the risk of SIDS. Which, of course I'm all for keeping my baby safe...so she sleeps on her back.


But, in doing so, she doesn't get very much "tummy time." This is important to develop her muscles and all that. However, each time I put her on her tummy, she gets mad. It's like I'm torturing her. And, believe it or not, for a while I would only do it about 2 or 3 minutes a day because it made her so mad. Being a new mom, you do whatever you can to try to not have a crying baby! It's the truth!

One day I was on a baby website, and it said that "By now, she should be having up to 20 min. of tummy time per day." Whoa! We were not doing that much at all!!!

I am pleased to let you know that now (she's almost 4 months old!), we're able to have more "tummy time" without her crying.

So, here are a few pictures of her this week, having tummy time and not crying! Yay!!!
She's getting SO BIG! I can't believe it's almost been 4 months since we welcomed her into this world. In some ways, it seems like just yesterday, and as far as sleep goes, it feels like I haven't been rested in 2 years! LOL But, all in all, we are so blessed to have her with us. I'm already teary-eyed when I think about her growing up and going to school and all that. Whew! I just can't think about it right now...she's such a huge blessing. I can't wait to see what God has in store for her life and our lives as a family.

Here is her first 3 month size outfit to wear. It was a gift from our friends Thomas and Amity. I had to take her picture because I am amazed that she's just now fitting into it (at the ripe old age of 4 months)!

Also, last night after this picture was taken, we were playing in her floor and she starting screaming!!! LOUD! I've never heard her do that before. I couldn't tell if she was mad or just overly excited. But, I'm guessing she was mad because an hour later when I was changing her diaper and getting her pj's on, she was thrashing her arms around and jerking her head around and throwing a FIT! Wow! Praise God for healthy lungs! LOL It ended up being that she was just really tired, and as soon as I swaddled her and fed her she was OUT for the night. It's so fun to see her growing and changing...and I figure that she can't talk yet, so all she has is her whining, crying, and (NOW) screaming to let me know how she feels. So, it's acceptable for now. However, when she learns to talk it will be a much different story. :0) Oh, the joys of motherhood! I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!