Living with Less

Dear Life,

On Christmas Eve I was feeding Emberly before church and fiddling on my phone. I occasionally (and by occasionally I really mean at least 3 times a week) check the West Fargo Public Schools webpage to see if there are any job postings that sound interesting. Why do I do this? Oh... probably just to torment myself. Well this particular time there was a job posting for a half-time first grade teacher position in Harwood. Um... interesting! I stewed over it the rest of the day and all day on Christmas day too. It sounded absolutely perfect. But that's all I knew about it... half-day, first grade teacher. So I emailed the principal and found out that the class was too big and was being split just in the mornings for math and reading. So... the person hired would be teaching my two very favorite subjects to about 14 kids in the mornings only (which is usually the time Jordan does not work so we wouldn't need daycare). UGH.

I went into hyper panic excitement mode and started emailing for references and filling out the application and digging out my teaching license...

But you see, Jordan and I are reading this book called "Living with Less so your Family has More" (it's by Jill and Mark Savage). The little tagline on the bottom of the book is redefining your priorities to put your family first. And this little voice kept creeping in, asking me what I would gain by taking this job, and what I would lose. You see, I LOVE Emberly more than I could ever explain to someone. I LOVE Jordan more than that. I love being able to be a mommy and a wife and not feeling like I'm always cutting someone or something short.

This book makes us think about what "less" really means, defining it as... less money, less insurance, less to invest for the future, fewer promotions, fewer opportunities and activities (which are definitely things to consider)... but on the flipside defines more in terms of intangibles that we often forget about because we're thinking of the dollars. More availability, more peace, more patience, more kindness, more joy, better health, more organization, more energy and intentionality for parenting and in our marriage, more attentiveness, more time, more margin...

Even when it was just Jordan and I, we were eating out a lot, we were living in the same house and working opposite hours, we were frustrated with each other more, and we were not able to keep up on laundry and cleaning and house projects. Adding Emberly to the mix with both of us working would only make it more that way.

You see... we may live in our modest home for a very long time. And we may need to do without cable TV for...ever. And we may have to live with our measly amount of "fun money" we allow ourselves each month for a very long time. And we may not get to go on huge vacations. And we may not be able to buy brand new cars. But we are not hurting - in fact, we are splendidly happy. Dare I say even more satisfied than we were when we were both working full time jobs and hardly seeing each other?



So about that job I mentioned. It turns out that Jordan's schedule just wouldn't allow it to be possible anyway. His schedule is just too unpredictable and we wouldn't be able to find daycare so sporadically. But... I think it's a blessing in disguise. I'm into the more peace, more availability, more patience, more kindness, more joy, better health, more organization, more energy, more margin...

Did I want that job? Absolutely. I love teaching. I really really love teaching. But there will be a time in my life where that will happen again. And if it doesn't - I'm ok with that. I really am. (And I'm documenting this because I am absolutely 100% sure that I will forget some days and need a reminder.) I can't wait to teach Miss Emberly about life. About Jesus. About sharing. How to read. How to bake. About kindness. About giving. About truth.

One of my former coworkers told me when I was making my decision about staying home this year, "Molly, you'll have plenty of time to raise other people's children later (in reference to teaching). Go ahead and raise your own children right now." :) I didn't realize I needed permission... but I think I did. Staying home is so counter cultural right now, which is really a sad thing. I know it's not the perfect solution or the answer to everyone's situation... but I believe it is in our situation. So here's the end of my winey piney road of missing teaching. I get to be a MOM - full time. Best benefit package around.

Plus... who'd stuff the fluffy cloth diapers?? I am not sharing that job with Mr. Spouse!

Yours Truly,
Molly

PS - I do get to go help with AIMSweb testing in the schools part of next week and the full following week! I am anxious, excited, nervous, and thrilled to get to do it. My former principal contacted me to see if I'd like to help and I jumped on the short-term committment. Why am I so anxious? Well... I have never left Emberly for that long and she still won't take a bottle. Hmmm... we'll see how this goes!

Emberly's First Christmas

Here are a few Christmas favorites...

Four Generations!

Ice fishing maddness...

Passed. Out.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Love,

Emberly

(Almost 4 months)

Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas!

I wish I could explain how long it took me to get a copy of my Christmas card on here.Seriously. I am so not technologically savvy. (And it's still kind of blurry... sorry!) But I really wanted to document our very first Christmas picture/letter…and let’s be honest… I’m so going to lose it by next Christmas.If Emberly has any hope of remembering her childhood, it will be thanks to the internet.

NOW… I am hoping most of you have gotten our Christmas card by now, but in case you haven’t, here it is! If you are looking at these pictures and thinking to yourself, “I did not get those pictures – I got a homemade version…”well… it’s because I had this brilliant idea that I’d make our Christmas cards this year.So I had pictures printed and started the process… and then remembered I had a 3-month old baby.I scrapped my plan and ordered cards.Apparently, however, I did not order enough cards, because we just kept thinking of more people to send Christmas cards to!So… I dug out my partly finished homemade cards and some people got homemade cards, and some people got Shutterfly made cards.Don’t read too far into this folks – I do not like you more or less if you got one or the other. Who are we kidding?I do not have the brain power to distinguish between the two right now.I was just happy I got them mailed out!

It is Christmas Eve and Emberly has been sleeping since 9:00.I have been working on this since (not telling!) and now I need to go to sleep.This seems to be the story of my life.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Molly

Thankful

Dear Life,

Today my heart is absolutely full to the brim with excitement for Christmas and thankfulness for the wonderful people in my life and love love love for my wonderful husband and precious baby girl. What makes the difference from my oh-so-crabby day yesterday you wonder? I'm ashamed to say that my time with the Lord has been lacking absent lately. I've prioritized stuff and a clean house and even being a good mom and a good wife over spending time with the Lord. These things aren't bad in themselves, but they aren't good in themselves either. Balance, balance, balance. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. More of Him and less of me.

Jordan and I have been memorizing Colossians 3 since... well... before Emberly was born. We are slooowly adding verses day by day. The first verses just hit me like a ton of bricks this morning though as I realized my priorities were all out of wack.

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on this earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:1-3)

Got it, Molly?? Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on this earth. Above above above.

So there. If I get crabby and icky again, feel free to Jesus check me. I need it every day.

Yours Truly,
Molly

PS - Other things that aided in my peachy day? 1- Emberly took a bottle again! YAY!!! 2- I got to run some errands while grandma babysat! YAY!!! 3- I bought some clothes that fit me well and actually are kind of fun! YAY!!! 4- Christmas is in 6 days! YAY!!! 5- We had crockpot Chicken and Dumplings for lunch today and they were amazing! YAY!!!

Little Complaints and Big Blessings

Dear Life,

I'll be honest... I'm in kind of a "mood." You know, the kind that colors everything an ugly shade of gray? I obviously woke up on the wrong side of the bed... which is too bad, because I totally wasted my day with my crabbiness.

There. I just wanted to be honest, because I think it's easy to color my days as sunshine and daisies in form of a blog post. So let me vent for 30 seconds, that's all I will take, I promise:

1. Why, oh why, do you ask if my baby is a boy or a girl when she is wearing an outfit with bright pink stripes, a giant pink cupcake on the front, and is wrapped in a pink blanket?

2. It hurts my feelings when you ask me what I do with my time at home. I am busy. All.Day.Long. I feed the baby, change the baby, play with the baby, clean the house, do the laundry, clean the messes, shop for the groceries, do the best to plan healthy meals, cook, run the errands... and it might seem trite. But it's not. At the end of the day I am absolutely exhausted. And I'm embarrassed that I'm exhausted because I only have one bambino. I don't know how parents of more than one child do it. The worst part is that there are days that I start to believe the lie that these things are not enough because I'm not getting paid for them or leaving the house with a "real job" (hate that).

3. I hate that I am a people pleaser. It leaves me exhausted at the end of the day because I can't say no. (Working on that.)

4. Why does my sweet baby girl not nap during the day? I think this would make my life much easier.

5. Why won't the pregnancy weight just drip off of me like it is supposed to? Baby has been out for almost 4 months.

I promised only 30 seconds, so if you are a fast reader I think I held true to my promise. I'm sorry I took it out on you. Will you forgive me?

So now let me think of some things that I am grateful for because those are the things I should be dwelling on anyway:

1. I have an absolutely fantastic husband who works incredibly hard to allow me to stay at home with Emberly every day. This no doubt results in more sleep, more quality time, healthier meals, more organization, less stress...

2. I just ate my emotions in the form of a bowl of Reeses peanut butter cereal. Delicious.

3. I only have 7 pounds left to lose from my rediculous baby weight gain. Woot woot!

4. Emberly sleeps well 97% of the time.

5. My mom is babysitting tomorrow so I can get some errands done. The rest of the working world will be at work so I don't have to deal with holiday shopping crazies. Praise the Lord!

6. Christmas is in 7 days and I cannot wait to celebrate the birth of our Savior!

7. I got to go to Bethel's Christmas program tonight and it was super refreshing to sing Christmas music, listen to talented musicians, and snuggle a sleeping baby.

8. Jordan's 'Friday' is tomorrow and I cannot wait to have a weekend with him.

9. I had a lovely conversation on the phone with my mom tonight and she let me vent and made me laugh. Both were a necessity. We talked for 56 minutes. When we hung up I still had more I wanted to say. Blessed by that friendship.

10. Jordan will be home from work in less than 2 hours.

11. Emberly is sleeping and the house is delightfully quiet.

12. I haven't done laundry other than diapers and baby laundry in at least a week and Jordan doesn't care.

13. Tomorrow is Monday and I do not have to be anywhere.

14. Jordan, Emberly, and I went on a walk today. It was 55 degrees and sunny with a slight breeze. There is no snow on the ground and it is December 18th.

15. My brother comes home on Tuesday or Wednesday! I miss him a lot.

16. Emberly is a fantastically healthy, growing baby that shares lots of smiles with us every day.

17. I have a comfy cozy bed that I get to sleep in every night in a warm house.

Speaking of that warm cozy bed... it is time to crawl into it before sweet baby girl decides she's hungry.

Goodnight!

Molly

Rolling

Emberly rolled from her tummy to her back yesterday for the first time.

Hip Hip Hooray!

How is it the middle of December???

Dear Life,
Um... how in the world did it get to be December 15th without me noticing?! I'm a little behind in seemingly every aspect of my life it feels like...

(Intermission - Crying baby)

Ok... where was I? I think I was filling you in on the craziness that is our lives these days. I will try to do an abreviated version.

We had the honor of introducing our sweet Emberly to my 92-year-old great grandma two weekends ago. It was an absolutely special time. Grandma Clara even asked if she could hold Emberly. It was so sweet.

Emberly had her second play-date with her friend Harper who is just 8 weeks older than Emberly. (Mind you, she had no idea it was a play-date, and slept through the entire first one, and most of the second one. We'll work on manners later...) It was so fun to see how much more Harper is doing at just 8 weeks older. I think my favorite moment though, was when Harper started crying, and Emberly just looked at her and started right in on the crying too. Ha. Goofy girl. (Um... notice how Emberly is pretty much the same size as Harper? Yeah. 8 weeks younger. Yikes!)

We also went to lunch with my Westside first grade teacher friends. It reminded me how much I missed school. School, mind you... not the craziness of firsties right before Christmas. :)

What else? Oh! Jordan and I decided to plough into our basement bathroom and change the nasty flooring into something slightly more our style. We also took out the nasty mirror/medicine chest-ish thing and put a flat mirror in, and took out the countertop and changed that too. We LOVE the final result:



Before & After

We also got to spend some time with Grandma Tracie when she was in town, I brought dinner to the Perry Center with some ladies that I go to a mom's group with, I hosted a baby shower for my sweet sister-in-law who is due at the end of January (cannot wait!), we got together with two couples for dinner on two occasions, we took dinner and dessert to our Missional Community we are a part of through our church, I have been teaching River City Kids (preschoolers at church) on Sunday mornings, I have been working on making Christmas gifts... and the list goes on and on. Yesterday I took the day off from "stuff" and Emberly and I just cuddled and talked and played. It was much needed. Sometimes it is easy to lose sight of what is important in life. I love people and I love to help other people, but if my family is suffering because of it, I have my priorities out of order.

So - here is to a fresh start. I know it could be so easy to be consumed by our culture's idea of Christmas and the craziness of the season these next two weeks. I often measure my worth and success by what I am doing and how clean my house is and all of the extras. However, Christmas is about celebrating the birth of a precious baby, born in a manger, that came to save you and me from our sinfullness that we deal with each and every day. The sin in our lives that places us and our importance over the importance of our Savior, whether we do this consciously or not. Thank goodness for Grace.

AND... at the risk of this getting all too long, I'll give you a brief Emberly update:

1. Emberly has decided that sucking on her hand is the bomb-diggity. She very consistently gets it into her mouth now, unless she's tired. She even likes to try to suck on her hand while nursing. This does not work the best.

2. She wakes up happy 99.9% of the time. Love, love, love!

3. She had a spell of about a week or so where she'd wake up several times during the night and want to nurse all.the.time. I think it's over. We've been back to sleeping 12+ hours a night, and only waking up once. Praise the Lord!

4. She is wearing 9 month clothes. Yes. My 3 1/2 month old.

5. She loves to talk and coo and has THE.BEST. giggle ever.

6. She loves the bath. It works as a great distraction if she is a tish on the crabby side.

7. She looks in the mirror and smiles at herself and it's probably the cutest thing ever.

8. If I had a dollar for every person that told me, "She must look like your husband because I can't even tell she's your daughter!" or "Wow does she ever look like Jordan!" I would be rich.

That's all for now. (That's plenty for now, isn't it?)

Yours Truly,
Molly

Clipping Fingernails

Dear Life,

Maybe you'll laugh... but one of the things baby-wise that I'm most terrified to do is clip Emberly's fingernails. I'm not kidding. They're just so tiny and she's so wiggly and I oh-so-accidentally clipped her poor little finger once and she cried and cried and cried and cried. I felt all kinds of terrible.

So... if I can somehow manage to leave her with her Grandma for an hour or two and conveniently slip the fingernail clipper in the diaper bag and drop an (oh-so-subtle) hint that her fingernails are really long... sometimes she comes home with freshly cut fingernails and I didn't have to stress over the process. (Genius, right?) :)

Today, however, Emberly had given herself quite a gash on the nose from her sharp little fingernails, so I knew I had put off cutting her fingernails long enough. Grandma was not around (I checked). I had to do it myself.

So, my friends, I took that fingernail clipper out, opened the blinds for optimal lighting, and I cut those teeny tiny little fingernails. Each and every one. And I didn't even get her finger this time. Sigh.Of.Relief. Phew!

Yours Truly,
Molly


PS - Just in case you were wondering, my sweet sleeps-through-the-night baby stopped sleeping through the night. She was waking up 2 or 3 times and wanting to nurse for a very long time (for it being the middle of the night and all). It happened about the same time I tried stretching her out during the day by setting up a feeding schedule. SO... I quit. Yesterday she ate whenever she got hungry. Sometimes it was every two hours, sometimes it was 4. Yup. And last night, baby girl only woke up once and went right back to sleep. Is this related, or am I making it up? Someone experienced, please feel free to offer experience. Do I just need to tough it out? Oh - on another related note, my I-took-a-bottle-like-a-champ-the-first-time baby will absolutely not drink out of a bottle anymore either. Gee whiz. Are we regressing??

Dad and Daughter Entertainment

Someone told us that once you have kids, they become your entertainment. This is so very true. Here are a few Dad & Daughter randoms that made us smile or laugh recently...

Jordan is teaching Emberly how to play Uno.
Don't worry, we'll save poker for next week.

Emberly discovered her voice was super interesting if Jordan bounced her on his knee. She did this for 15+ minutes. (Notice us laughing hysterically in the background? Remember me mentioning that your children become your entertainment? Yup. We are suckers.)

Jordan and Emberly talk all.the.time. In their own language. I don't understand it, and she won't do it with me... but she'll do it with him for long periods of time. They bond.

Stuff

Recent milestones:

1. I've tried to switch over from my feed-on-demand theme to more of a schedule. Today was day 2. Yesterday was awesome. Today was a little trickier. I think, however, it will be worth it if I can stick it out. I hesitated blogging this because some of you can't believe I've fed on demand this long, and others of you think I'm mean for switching to a schedule. Oh well :) I am just trying to do what seems right at the time!

2. The past two days I've been sitting Emberly facing out on my lap and reading books with her so she can see the pages. She loves it. I might be making that up because I'm a teacher and I so desperately want her to love books, but if she is upset it seems to distract her and she flails her arms and stops crying and seems to be enthralled. :) love.

3. We set up the exersaucer today. It says 4 months and up on the box, but we put a blanket behind her so she's well supported, and she loved looking at the toys. We only had her in there a short time, but I have a feeling it will be a fun new toy before long.

4. Her (whole) fist is more consistently going into her mouth. She has thrown a few little baby tantrums when it goes away and she can't figure out how to get it back.

5. We seem to be back to our regular sleep schedule of her waking up once around 5am or so and sleeping from 9pm-9am give or take. So blessed.

Ok those are the major things that I can think of. Baby is tucked into bed and I'm headed straight for a glass of wine and a hot bath. :) I've been staying up far too late after I tuck her in, so I am determined to crash on the early side tonight. Goodnight!

Cheating the Budget

Dear Life,

We have been pinching pennies in the Wobbema household as of late. Literally.

We just really wanted pizza for lunch today. It was not in the budget. So after digging in couch cushions, our cars, the coin jar, our wallets, and the baskets we keep by the doors... this is how we paid for our $11.90 pizza.

Win.

Yours Truly,

Molly

Little Dumpling

I never thought I'd be the mama that tucks her little dumpling into bed and then frantically runs around the house to get as much done as possible before absolutely crashing and forcing herself to stop to go to bed because she knows that she still has a baby that does not sleep through the night and that morning will come before she knows it... (phew!)

But I am.

Speaking of little dumpling... she is 3 months old today!

Now it is bedtime. (After I hang the diapers to dry... finish the dishes... clean the bathroom sink...)

Bits and Pieces

Dear Life,

I can't wait for Emberly to know to smile when we take pictures... but this is pretty cute anyway. My sweet friend Rachelle crocheted that adorable flower headband. Don't you love it?? It is my absolute favorite.

We got a new camera lens today! Maybe my pictures will start to look slightly nicer from here on out. This, however, was still snapped with my phone. It's just so handy!

My dear friend Jaimie cut and colored my hair today. I feel so pampered and blessed. She is a true gem.

Baby girl is tucked in for the night. I'm off to do dishes and fold laundry and crawl into bed. Praying sweet girl will sleep well tonight - we've had several long nights. So thankful they are few and far between!

Yours Truly,

Molly

 

Christmas Picture

Jordan and I were trying to be on the ball and capture a Christmas picture.

This is how Emberly felt about that...

Black Saturday?

Dear Life,

I’ve never been one for Black Friday shopping before, and trust me, this year was not any different. I, however, thought I’d struck gold with a ‘50% off one item’ coupon from Joann fabrics, because I have been determined to make a scarf from a tutorial that I found on Pinterest, so I set out today to purchase my single cut of fabric. (Today is Saturday mind you, I thought Black Friday was over.) I told Jordan I’d be back in an hour tops because I had to run to my mom’s house to pick up something I had left there earlier and to Joann’s. Two quick errands.

Please imagine my surprise when I walked in the door of the fabric store and saw ads and papers and merchandise strewn about the floor and women EVERYWHERE. I should have just turned around and left right then, but I was determined to get my fabric at that point, it was main reason I left the house. So I walked to the cutting counter to take my number and then went straight to the knit fabrics to pick out the one I needed, thinking I was so smart to pick up my number first so I didn’t have to wait in line as long. (I think I must have closed my eyes to not notice the million women in line paying for their items and the giant bags of fabric people were carrying out of the store… no, I did not notice these until I was walking out of the store…) So here I am standing in the aisle looking for a nice blue fabric when I hear one of the ladies at the fabric counter call out number 36. It is at this point that I look down at my number and discover that I am number 97. 97?! Yes… there were 61 people in line ahead of me. Oh. My. Goodness.

I went back to the fabric counter, laid down my number, and walked out of the store. I could not imagine wanting something enough to be in that store a minute more... especially when I have this waiting at home for me:

And now? I am enjoying the heat in my house and the taco soup I made for lunch while Jordan snuggles Emberly downstairs because she’s not interested in napping today. She must be growing because she has been sleeping through the night most nights lately, or at least only getting up once around 6 or 7am and then going back to sleep, and the last several nights she’s gotten up at 3am, 6am, 7:30am… (you get the picture). Oh well! We are still spoiled. We love her so much and we can deal with it.

Yours Truly,

Molly

Teeth & Scooting

E pushed her first top tooth through on Friday (4/6). Wonder what babies do who are teething? Well... they don't sleep very much. But they sure are tired. This right here... is not something we commonly see (or maybe have ever seen before)...

She is working on top tooth #2. It is sooo close. Please hurry little tooth!

And wonder what babies who are learning to scoot around do? They get stuck under every piece of furniture they can find. It's pretty adorable.

To my non-cloth-diapering mama friends... :)

Dear Non-cloth-diapering mamas,

I totally get that cloth diapering is not for everyone. Trust me, I do. When I first discovered the world of cloth diapers I couldn't even imagine why someone would choose to use them. I had about a million and five reasons why cloth diapering was archaic and disgusting, and now I have about a million and five reasons why I love cloth diaper fluff. But that is not the purpose of my blog post today and I will not try to convince you to use them, I promise. :) (Although I'm open to talking cloth diapers anytime if you're interested...) hehe

I am, however, going to jump up on my soapbox for just a moment to tell you about this wonderful thing called a wet bag, or a wet/dry bag because I believe all diapering mamas need to know about them, whether you use fluff (cloth diapers) or 'sposies' (as the cloth diapering world calls disposables). Had I not been introduced to cloth, I would not have known about this wonderful invention, and I think you need to know about wet bags just as much as I do.

A wet bag is a cute bag often made of PUL fabric or something similar that keeps wet inside the bag without leaking through. (That is why some are called wet/dry bags.) SO... If you go to the pool and come home with wet swimming suits, you throw the suits in this bag and transport the wet home without getting everything else wet. Neat, right?

I throw a wet bag in my diaper bag at all times in case Emberly soaks through her diaper and it gets her clothes wet and I need to transport her wet clothes home. I also have a wet bag with specifically for soiled diapers so that I can just dump the contents in with my diaper load, and then throw the wet bag in the wash and I don't have to touch them again when I get home. We have 3 different sizes, a small, medium, and large, so that I can grab the one that fits the outing best. I carry the small one with me if I'm just going to be gone a couple of hours, the medium if I'll be gone for the afternoon or evening, and the large if I'll be gone for a weekend.

Now, you may be wondering how this has anything to do with YOU, the non-cloth diapering mama (other than swimming pool trips). Well... I'll be honest. I don't really love to have poopy, smelly diapers in my trash. That is one of the reasons we use cloth. They never have time to get stinky and I'm not filling up my garbage can each week. Anywho - I am just guessing that churches and department stores and grandparents and friends also don't like your child's diapers in their trash, unless they too have diapers in their trash. So, wet bags are the perfect solution to not having to seek out a trash can that is appropriate to dump your child's dirty diaper in. Instead you just throw your child's dirty diaper in your wet bag and bring it home to your own trash! :) Problem solved!

Now... here is the best part. These little wet bags are CUTE. I mean, there are tons of colors and patterns and all sorts of fun. Ask for one for Christmas, or slip it in your next month's budget and splurge. (Or invite me to your baby shower... I will probably buy you one!) You will love it. I promise.

I have two Bummis wet bags and one Planet Wise wet bag and I like them both. The Planet Wise one is a little more heavy duty in my mind - but that is the only big difference. You can click on any of the links below to read more about them or order them. I believe the prices at Kelly's Closet and Cotton Babies are very similar, but sometimes one or the other has better shipping deals or whatever. AND... if you order when they happen to have a "Free Cloth Diaper with x amount of dollars purchase" - feel free to give it to me if you aren't going to use it! :) teeheehee

Ok. Totally done with my soapbox. Just wanted to share my learnings with you. Someone needs to write a book about all sorts of things to know when you become a new mom. Seriously. Now... if there are things I need to know, please share with me!

Yours Truly,
A Cloth Diapering Mama

Bummis:

https://www.kellyscloset.com/Bummis-Fabulous-Wet-Bags_p_3746.html

http://www.cottonbabies.com/product_info.php?cPath=37&products_id=2193

Planet Wise:

https://www.kellyscloset.com/Planet-Wise-Wet-Bags_p_3436.html

http://www.cottonbabies.com/product_info.php?cPath=37&products_id=1769

Busy Weekend

Dear Life,

What a whirlwind of a weekend! In short... (read this really fast without taking a breath and you will capture the feeling I am trying to portray with my really long run-on sentence) we left Friday at about 11:00 for Bismarck, stopped in Jamestown to visit my grandma, got to Bismarck about 3:00, celebrated Jordan's dad's career in the military and went to his retirement ceremony on Saturday, left Bismarck on Saturday about 5:00, got home and unpacked and cleaned and threw food in the crock pot for Emberly's dedication at church on Sunday, went to bed around midnight, got up the next morning to start the crock pots at 6:00, left for church at 10:30, got home about 1:00 and had friends and family (20 people, mind you) at our house until about 3:00 when Jordan had to leave for work! Whew! (Could you read it without taking a breath?)

All in all it was a fantastic weekend. I forgot my camera when we went to Bismarck, but here is a picture of the dedication. Do I look especially awkward holding Emberly like that? I thought so... but she just really likes to be held looking out these days, and I wasn't going to mess with her while we were standing up in front of everyone.

Today was sleep-in day to recover, but Emberly missed the memo so she got up slightly earlier than her usual (which was still 8:00, so I can't really complain). She is now taking an afternoon nap, which I should totally be cashing in on, but instead am making lunch and writing this blog because well... I'm hungry and I felt like I needed to document our weekend.

Ok time to go finish cooking my grilled cheese, tomato soup, and chicken stuffing. Yes, that is what I am eating for lunch. Please don't judge. Doesn't stuffing sound delicious? (I do realize that I will get stuffing for our Thanksgiving meal later in the week... but that box in my pantry has been staring at me for over a week and I just had to give in and make it today. If I'm feeling any sort of self control at all, I will not eat the whole box... I hope.)

Happy Monday!

Yours Truly,
Molly

Milestone

Dear Life,

You will never believe this. Well... this first part you'll believe... but give me a minute and we'll get to the good stuff. My parents (Grandma Go-Go and Grandpa Juice) oh-so-kindly took Emberly for a few hours tonight so Jordan and I could go out for dinner and shop for shoes. (Did you know that your feet grow when you are pregnant? At least mine did. None... I repeat none of my shoes fit anymore. At first I just thought my toenails were too long, but then I tried to trim them and my shoes were still too small. Guess this is a regualar pregnancy 'weirdy.') Anyway... we had a glorious time (even though we didn't find any shoes. I just had to love them, you know? We are on a budget these days, and if I didn't just love them, they had to stay at the store. Maybe we'll try again later in the week.) My goodness I have a lot of tangents tonight! Back on track: So... the best part (this is the part you won't believe) is that my oh-so-sweet daughter took 3 ounces of breastmilk out of a bottle while at Grandpa and Grandma's tonight! It was her very first bottle. I was a little worried that she would be terribly offended at the thought of a bottle, but as Grandma tells it, she took it like a champ. A champ! She said she put the bottle in her mouth and Emberly just started drinking like, "I do this all the time Grandma, don't even worry about it." She drank the whole thing down without even stopping. My husband is a little worried this means he'll have to get up in the middle of the night. I can just see it in his eyes. (Don't worry, Daddy-o, pumping is just not that much fun.)

I am just continually amazed at how flexible this girl is. (Way more flexible than her mama!) Good girl Emberly!


Yours Truly,
Molly

Happy Veteran's Day, Dad!

Dear Life,

Emberly was happy and smiling when I set her down on the changing table to put on her nighttime diaper and PJs tonight. I reached down to get the diaper and when I stood up a mere 7 seconds later, this is what I found. Passed out, deep sleeping baby. She continued to sleep all through taking this layer off, changing her diaper, and putting two layers on. Apparently we wore her out today!

These are my favorite moments of the day, when we can just rock and cuddle in the middle of the afternoon.

I will really miss these times when she doesn't sleep quite as much. :)

Isn't she cute?

I'm imagining her saying, "Happy Veteran's Day, Dad!"

We celebrated with a free meal at Texas Roadhouse today. I'm awfully proud of Mr. Wonderful, who has been in the Air Force for almost 6 years, and full-time active duty for most of that. Too bad schools and government employees and such get Veteran's Day off, but my military man has to work. Oh well - he didn't complain even once. So thankful he loves what he does.

Yours Truly,

Molly

Christmas in November

Dear Life,

So I recognize it is only November 10th, but I just had to put up the Christmas tree today. I have been thinking about it since... well... November 1st, and I just couldn't wait any longer! I've been asking for awhile, and I thought Mr. Wonderful would kindly object, but instead, when we got up this morning he fearlessly offered to put up the Christmas lights on our house, and before I even knew it he brought up the Christmas tree from the basement. :) Hip Hip Hooray! So, needless to say, we put on Christmas music, our Christmas PJs, and set up the tree!

I haven't quite figured out what we'll say to guests who come between now and Thanksgiving, but I'm hoping they won't mind. My thought is that at Thanksgiving it seems appropriate to be thankful for Jesus, because without Him we'd be lost in our sin and hopelessness, so why not have our Christmas tree up to remind us what is truly most important in life and what we are truly thankful for? That seems much better than looking at Black Friday ads and being discontent with what we have and in search of what we could purchase the day after, doesn't it?

Now, I just need to keep myself from spending millions of dollars on crafting supplies, because we've decided to do an all homemade Christmas this year. Spending millions of dollars would be exactly the opposite of what we're going for. I just have this serious problem, aided by pinterest, that makes me want to give lovin' away to everyone that walks in our door (and even those who don't...). Maybe that isn't a problem - but, you know what I mean. Our goal is to spread the Joy of Christmas through simple gifts that remind people of Jesus, not Santa or gifts or reindeer or snow.

Speaking of snow, it snowed for about 3 minutes yesterday - did you see it? I may be ready for Christmas, but I am not ready for snow.

In other news, Emberly giggled in her sleep today. While I was holding her. And it warmed my heart. :) Have I mentioned how in love with her we are around here? Still pretty drunk with baby love. She is sleeping so well at night, 6, 7, 8+ hours for the first stretch of the night, and several more after a little momma's milk. She started wearing 3-6 month clothes last week and is fitting into them all too well... I can't imagine she'll get to wear them much longer because her poor little toes will be too squished! She very consistently hits the toys on her play-mat and stares and studies the ones on her bouncy seat that are just out of reach. She makes eye contact at longer distances and talks even when someone isn't talking directly to her. When she wakes up in the morning I rarely hear crying, but instead a sweet little "calling" to let me know she's awake and then she just beams when I come in to greet her for the day. Love. It.

That's all for now!

Yours Truly,
Molly

A-Hunting-We-Will-Go

Dear Life,

We went to the doctor for Emberly's 2-month well baby checkup on Tuesday. She is growing like a weed! Our sweet baby girl is now 12 lbs. and 7 oz. and 23 inches long. Wowza! That puts her in the 50th percentile for weight-for-length, and 90th percentile for weight-for-age, and 75th percentile for length-for-age. (I just hope she's at least a 5th grader by the time she is taller than me...)

Emberly also got shots at her appointment. It was pretty traumatic (for me) and poor girl was all out of sorts the rest of the day. She had fully recovered by morning though, only waking one extra time during the night and still getting close to 11 hours of sleep.

Now... here is the *fab-u-lous* news of the day... are you ready??

Emberly slept 11 hours last night... without waking up even once! Shut the front door. That is ridiculous. Hilarious. Lovely. Beautiful. Glorious! :) This could be a new trend and I'd be totally ok with it.

The even better part is that she slept in her crib! We've maybe been *kinda bad* in that we've been letting her sleep in her vibrating bouncy chair at night because let me tell you, this girl is addicted to movement. That bouncy bouncy is just the icing on the cake for my baby girl. But as she starts to wiggle a little more, we decided that we'd better move her to the crib plenty early so we don't have any spills. (Do we sound like terrible parents for letting her sleep in the bouncy?? Please don't judge, unless you'd like a non-sleeping baby in your house overnight.) :)

Anyway. I went to bed just 30 minutes after I put her down at 9:30, thinking it could very well be a long night. When I woke up at 5:00am, I was all out shocked she had not gotten me out of bed. After laying in bed for about 15 minutes, I got up the courage to go and check and make sure she was well... alive. Ahhh, sigh, peacefully sleeping and breathing baby was enough peace of mind for me. I fell back asleep thinking she would be waking me very soon... but no, I woke up again at 8:00 and she was still sleeping! She started cooing and taking at about 8:30. Goofy girl.

Anyway... that's about all in baby-land.

Daddy-o left for deer hunting in Carington this afternoon. He's gone until TUESDAY. Did you do the math? Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. That would be 6 days. If I'm feeling generious I could maybe say 4 days since he left this afternoon and will be home before he goes to work at 3:00 on Tuesday... but I'm not feeling all that generious. :) We will miss him! However, it was pretty fun to see how excited he was to go hunting with friends and family. I truly hope he has a blast (and misses us a lot!). Emberly and Grandma and I are going "hunting" this weekend too. We are headed to the lake to spend a few days on a retreat of our own. Yippee!

That's all for now. Happy Thursday (almost Friday!)!

Yours Truly,
Molly

(I know this picture has nothing to do with anything I wrote about - but I thought it was hilarious. Jordan got new decoys and the first thing he does is plop Emberly on one as if she's riding it. Goofy Daddy-o.)

2 Months

Angel Baby is 2 months old today!

Two days ago she was just barely starting to coo and talk to me... and today she really discovered her voice. We had long conversations and talked all about life today.

Last night she slept 11 lovely hours from 9:00pm-4:00am, and 4:30am-8:45am. Did I mention that it was lovely? When I woke up this morning I was shocked she wasn't awake. About 15 minutes later I started to hear sweet cooing and talking noises from her room and when I went in to check on her she gave me the biggest smiles to greet the day. :) She has always been a wonderful sleeper, and I usually only get up with her once during the night, but she doesn't normally sleep in until 8:45. That was just a special bonus for her tired mama last night. :) Who knows... maybe it will be a new 'normal.' (Don't worry, I'm not holding my breath!)

I put her in a 3-6 month sleeper today! Boo hoo! :( She is growing so fast.

She is just about busting out the toes in her 0-3 month sleepers.

I put her down for the night awake most every night and she sometimes has a little tired cry for a few minutes but generally settles herself and crashes. Occasionally I give her the pacifier when she doesn't settle herself after a minute or two. Her mama can't stand to hear her cry too long. :) The pacifier usually solves the problem... as long as she doesn't spit it out!

I love celebrating her life. She is a pretty wonderful addition to our family.

Weekend at the Lake

Dear Life,

On Friday morning we woke up and were about to run some errands, do some cleaning, get some groceries, and other responsible parenty things when we decided on a whim to go to the lake for the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Johnson instead. It was about 9:00am and we set a goal to be on the road by noon. Just in case you don't have kids and don't know... it is not easy to go anywhere quickly... and we only have one bambino that is quite portable. Even still, this was an ambitious goal for us. We had a lot to do. BUT... by 12:30, we were driving away from our house (to Target to get a few last minute things) and were on the road officially by about 1:30. Emberly broke her usual 'cry all the way to anywhere in the car' mold and slept the whole way to the lake. Three cheers for Emberly!

We had all kinds of fun at the lake. Emberly loved getting snuggled by grandma and grandpa a lot. She even got to take a nap or two with dad in the recliner. Jordan and I each took a turn kayakiing on a perfectly peaceful lake, we got to go four-wheeling several times, Jordan got to fish, and I went on some lovely walks with my mom. All around, it was a lovely weekend. Want to know the best part? I thought I would be all type-A-ish about needing to get back home so we could do those errands, do the cleaning, and get the groceries I was telling you about earlier... but I wasn't! Want to know why? Because the Lord has been teaching me that I need to live my life a little more than I allow myself to sometimes. I want to be in control of all the little stuff so it appears I have more control than I really do, but that isn't the way it is supposed to be. I am pretty sure that I won't look back at my life and wonder why I let my house get so dusty or forgot to vacuum under my dining room table or make our bed. I want to teach Emberly how to enjoy life and play too, along with responsibility and the satifaction of hard work. Balance. Yes, that is the word of the season.

Yours Truly,
Molly