It's the Most Horrible Time of the Year

Ok, not really - I love the Christmas season! And as I get older and as my family grows, I enjoy it more and more. But for a sugar addict, such as myself, it is the most horrible time of the year.

I admit that I consume more than the normal amount of sugar on a regular (daily) basis, but between Thanksgiving and Christmas I consume EVEN more. That's not a good thing.

It first began with deciding to make fudge, again, for my side of the family. If you've ever made fudge, it usually makes quite a bit, so we ended up keeping some for ourselves. What was I thinking?!?

Then Thanksgiving weekend came. I consumed more Starbucks drinks over 6 days than I do in 1 month. Well, of course that's all justified as 2 of those drinks were because we had woken up early to finish the second half of our drive, 1 of those drinks was meeting up with my BFF and the other one was doing a "traditional" Starbucks run with my mom and sister. Then there's the after Thanksgiving dinner PIE and ICE CREAM, which you MUST top with Reddi Whip. Plus it doesn't help when you have a massive family gathering 2 days after Thanksgiving and people bring very tasty looking desserts - cookies that look like pilgrim hats, bite size pieces of cheesecake, family tradition kolacky cookies...Come on folks! And because K was such a good bowler, he won a bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies, which of course I ate since I have a sweet tooth.

K and I celebrated our anniversary at the beginning of the month. On our anniversary, K came home over his lunch break and presented me with a card, flowers and cookies. Not just any cookies, my all time favorite - Pepperidge Farm Bordeaux...DE-LICIOUS!

This past weekend a group of ladies from our church took part in a Christmas Ornament and Cookie Exchange. So you know what that means - I had to bake THREE dozen cookies AND I brought home a variety of other cookies. I made Caramel-Filled Chocolate cookies which require Rolo candy and of course I didn't need all the Rolos, SO the remaining candy was placed in our pantry...waiting to be consumed by  none other than ME.

K asked me to make some sort of dessert for a co-worker's farewell party. I went out and bought a simple brownie mix. Yesterday K came home with the leftover brownies - thankfully there were only two, but of course they've already been eaten.

And then there's the Limited/Seasonal Christmas goodies!! I swear, stores intentionally torture sugar addicts during the holidays. While in IL for Thanksgiving my sister reminded me of the wonderful Mint M&Ms - which I purchased during the last big grocery shopping trip. Saturday I purchased Candy Cane Oreos to bring to someone's house in hopes that there would be some left to bring back home. Also, during my last grocery shopping trip I came across Peppermint flavored miniature marshmallows which I had to get so I could put them in my almost daily hot chocolate. At some point, I plan on getting Hershey's Mint Truffle Kisses and Hershey's Peppermint Kisses. Seriously Walmart, are you trying to kill me?!?

It won't stop at that either. We'll be with K's family for Christmas and I'm sure his parents will have some sweets around the house because they know I have a sweet tooth.

I would like to make something clear...I'm not worried about gaining weight from the sugar, I'm simply worried about the amount of sugar consumed - pretty confident it's not normal (or healthy).

Hi, my name is E and I'm a sugar addict...



Not pictured: Brownies (already gone...)



Over the River & Through the Woods to Grandmother's House we Go!

For Thanksgiving this year K, IB, J and I drove to Illinois - to my parents' house. Let's just say it was a bit of a tight squeeze - IB and J had to share the backseat with each other along with other items we packed. Our original plan was to leave EARLY Wednesday morning (like 4am) and get to my parents' early evening, but thankfully a few of K's co-workers suggested we leave Tuesday after K got off work. After discussing the pros and cons, we decided to leave Tuesday - which was for the best. The motel we stayed at in Newton Falls, OH is where I'm sure they filmed the movie Identity with John Cusack and to make things "worse" it was raining....Identity 2 anyone? In reality, it wasn't that bad - I'm not too picky when it comes to staying in a motel/hotel for one night. I'm glad we did leave Tuesday because we were able to surprise my mom and dad by arriving a lot earlier than expected.

It had been almost a year since I'd seen my siblings and their families. It was so fun Thursday morning when my nieces met their youngest cousin for the first time, they totally loved on her ALL weekend! "Auntie Erin, can I hold IB now?...Auntie Erin, is it my turn to hold IB?...Auntie Erin, where's IB?" Later on Thursday my 2 brothers, their families and my great uncle came over, what a full house - 11 adults and 12 kids 9 years old an younger!

Unfortunately, my grandma couldn't be with us on Thanksgiving. A couple weeks ago she fell outside of church which resulted in a hairline fracture in her hip, so she's been staying at a Senior Living community where she's getting rehab. Even though she couldn't come to us, we all took turns going to visit her.

My mom, sister and I were worried we may not be able to do the generational picture, but turns out we were able to. How many people have been part of a 4 generation family picture? My guess is not too many - boy, am I blessed!

While in town, I was able to meet up with my best friend and two other very close friends! Even though it was a short trip, I made it a priority to see E, A and K. What I love about these 3 girls is that we can go weeks without talking and months without seeing one another, yet when we are together it's like we saw each other last week. That's what I call true friendship. I think the most exciting part about seeing my friends was E meeting IB for the first time! I had been WAITING for them to meet.

On Saturday we took part in some Forced Family Fun, which meant getting together with my aunts, uncles, cousins and second cousins. With some of my family, I can't remember the last time I saw them - that's pretty sad. I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say we had a great time! There was bowling, food, laughing, food, kids running around screaming, food, catching up - oh, did I mention food? Hopefully it'll be sooner rather than later when we're all together again.

Now we're back home, after another long drive from IL to VA. Despite long hours in a car, cramped seating, stops to feed and change IB and stops to let J stretch, it was ALL worth it! This road trip gave me time to sit back and reflect on what I am truly thankful for and family and friends are certainly a part of that!

Life Lately

A very good friend told me on Facebook that I need to update my blog (in fact, the same friend that told me to start a blog) because she wants to know what's going on in my life. You will notice some changes in my writing - I am no longer using the names of people. To sum it up, due to a recent comment on my blog I do not feel comfortable using names. So if you're at all familiar with my life, I'm confident you will pick up on who I'm talking about. Also, I apologize ahead of time for the LONG post...after all, it has been a good amount of time since I've posted actual life updates, rather than just moments or thoughts. And if this helps, I've titled each section, so read what you want.

BIBLE STUDY:

You may recall a post back in August when I wrote about a Bible Study K & I had been doing together. Well, I am pleased to announce that we completed the "40 day challenge" - granted not 40 days in a row, but pretty close. It was really interesting to go through the Bible, sequentially, and learn things I never knew before. You might say I'm a tad more confident in what the Bible says - more than just your typical Sunday School stories. After we completed that journey, we wanted to venture on to a new study. We decided to use the book "Quiet Time Bible Guide: 365 Days Through the New Testament and Psalms" - a devotional book I got in 2005 and managed to stick with for only 18 days. Turns out I stuck with it longer back in 2005 than K & I did - we got 15 days into it when K said he doesn't really like it and wants to try something else. K suggested we pick a book of the Bible, individually read one section (heading) a day and then discuss it together. The book we chose is Romans - not the easiest book to read, but one all Christians should be familiar with. We've been reading Romans for the past several days and already there's SO much material! K likes to read the passage, think about it, ask his own questions and read the commentary. As for me, I need questions to answer so I found one website that had some good questions, but it only had up to a certain verse then you had to purchase the remainder of the study...no thanks. K, knowing how I do devos, found another website that has Bible Study questions for all of Romans - way to go, babe! 

BABY GIRL:

IB turned 8 months old today! Where has the time gone? I'll save you the "I feel like just yesterday..." IB has grown up quite a bit in the past 8 months. She has her two bottom teeth and now I'm just waiting for the two top teeth to come in. You read in a previous blog that she started solids - well she's tried a whole bunch of foods! Carrots, green beans, peas, squash, sweet potatoes, bananas and now pears. Wednesday we'll be starting apples. Thankfully, unlike her mommy, she has yet to be picky about what she eats. With the first few bites of some of the veggies I thought they'd be on her "I don't like" list, but turns out she pretty much enjoys it all - guess she's more like her dad when it comes to what she'll eat. One of my favorite things is to watch IB make herself laugh. She'll be sitting or laying on the floor playing with something and she'll just start to laugh - it's nice to know she can entertain herself already. Originally I wasn't planning on

getting a Halloween costume for IB, but K (easily) convinved me otherwise, so I purchased a cow costume at a consignmnet sale for like 3 bucks. I guess it was worth it, she did look rather adorable! On Halloween we met up with another couple and their daughter and took the girls to a Trunk or Treat at a church nearby. We walked around checking things out - basically we wanted to show our cow and fish off. IB hasn't quite picked up on the concept of crawling forward yet. She's able to "crawl" backwards and rotates herself anywhere between 0-360 degrees, but no forward motion. Eh, she'll get there. Plus, why rush it? At least right now when we put her down and leave the room for a minute we'll know where she is when we return.


SOCIAL LIFE:

MOPS - I have really enjoyed being a part of MOPS! It's nice to have 2 hours with other moms every other Friday, not to mention play dates on the weeks we don't meet. Having more experienced moms around is nice, too, because I can learn from them and also know that what I'm doing as a mom is what they have done as well. I also think it's been good for IB to be around other babies her age - get her used to being around other kids.

GAME NIGHT - A couple weekends ago K & I hosted a game night at our place with our small group. It had been quite awhile since we'd all been together - the leaders recently had a baby, so they've been a bit busy. I made chili for the first time, which turned out pretty darn good if I do say so myself, while all the other couples brought sides, desserts, chips and drinks. I really enjoyed myself - it was nice to all be together again. We ended up playing Battle of the Sexes and of course us ladies won. Woot woot! :-) Hopefully we'll be together again sooner rather than later.

THANKSGIVING - Thanksgiving is coming up and I'm SUPER-DUPER excited! It may be because of all the yummy food, but mostly because I get to see the people I care about the most. With Turkey Day festivities coming up, I've been making plans on who I'm going to see and when - so many people, so little time. But there are truly NO WORDS to describe my excitement!

WORLD RELIGIONS/CULTS CLASS - K & I have been taking a World Religions and Cults class at our church over the past 9 weeks (this Sunday is the last class). At the first class the teacher asked, "What's the purpose of taking this class?" The purpose is for us to have a basic understanding of the people we are trying to share the Gospel with. The class has covered Islam, Protestant Aberrations, Roman Catholicism, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Hinduism and Buddhism and will end with New Age. What an eye opener this class has been! Mainly because I have really comprehended that SO MANY people are on the path leading to eternity in hell all because of their non-Christian beliefs. With having taken this class, I can only pray that God will give me the opportunities and courage to speak to people so I may plant seeds with an end result of Jesus Christ saving them from hell. Possibly more to come on this topic once I've gone to the final class.

Well, there it is...life lately.

My Daily 15...

cups of coffee? No, I don't drink coffee

throws of a tennis ball to Jack? No, it's probably more than 15

diaper changes? No, not nearly that many

minutes of ME time in the shower? YES! YES! YES!

Now that I've become a Mom, a stay-at-home Mom nonetheless, I noticed I lost a lot of me time. The majority of the day I am caring for someone else - my daughter, my husband or my dog. I'm either playing with IB, making K's lunch or throwing a ball to J. Where has the ME time gone?

This may sound pathetic, but I look forward to taking my shower because for fifteen minutes the focus is on me and me alone. Whether IB is napping or playing in her ExerSaucer, whether K is home or not, and whether J is sleeping or wanting to go outside I get fifteen minutes all to myself. No interruptions and no distractions. I tune out everything that is going on around me so I can take time for myself, even if it is in the shower. Stepping into that warm waterfall of water some how puts my mind and body at ease - as if I don't have a care in the world. But as soon as I turn the water off and walk out of the bathroom, the chaos resumes.

Don't get me wrong, I love my daughter and love being home with her...I love my husband and love serving him...I love my dog and love throwing the ball to him, but I also love myself and love taking time for myself. Even though I am a wife and a mom, I have to remember I'm also a woman and I NEED to take time for myself here and there, otherwise I'll go crazy!

SO HERE'S TO ME AND MY DAILY 15 MINUTES!

Child Dedication

On Sunday, September 25, 2011 K and I had the privilege of dedicating our daughter during the church service. Child dedication is a ceremony in which a commitment is made by the child's parents to honor the Will and Word of God. K and I, along with three other couples, publicly made six vows.

Vow #1: Will you do your best to raise this child to honor, revere, and love Jesus Christ?

K & E: Yes

Vow #2: Will you do your best to maintain a home where Jesus Christ is honored and obeyed, where the Word of God is the authority and Jesus Christ is the head?

K & E: Yes

Vow #3: Will you commit this child to God in prayer on a regular basis, trusting God to override your mistakes and make up for your shortcomings?

K & E: Yes

Vow #4: Will you actively rely on the Holy Spirit to raise this child and to incline his or her heart to the Lord?
K & E: Yes

Vow #5: Will you do your best to release this child to the will of God, whatever that might be, without bitterness or resistance?

K & E: Yes

Vow #6: Will you do your best to be fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ, so that this child has godly examples to follow?
K & E: Yes

We chose two Bible verses to help remind us of what God calls godly parents to do:

Genesis 18:19 For I have chosen him (Abraham), that he may command his children and household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised.

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.

A Whole New World

It's a whole new world for IB - a world that involves solids, that is. K was able to come with me to IB's 6-month check-up yesterday. The pediatrician told us IB could start on solids (at her 4-month she told us to hold off until 6 months). We were informed of some basics and then given some suggestions - after cereal, try veggies then fruit otherwise she will not eat the veggies.  I don't know about other moms out there, but I was oober excited to start feeding IB solids. Maybe it was because I thought she was going to be starting at 4-months, but had to wait until 6-months. Needless to say, I couldn't wait for IB's next bottle so I could attempt some rice cereal. Around 11am, I gave IB a bottle and then happily pulled out a baby bowl, baby spoon and the rice cereal.

Let's just say, IB was rather confused and did NOT know what to do. This whole solids thing was foreign to her. K and I enjoyed watching the facial expressions after cereal was put in her mouth and laughing when cereal was "tongued" out of her mouth because she doesn't understand how to eat it. It's strange to think that each and every one of us had to LEARN how to eat solid foods, that it wasn't just second nature for us from the get go. With that in mind, I LOVE being a part of this learning process for Isabelle.

184 Days!!

Happy SIX  Months to My Baby Girl!!

This morning I woke up thinking, "Really? Six months already?" Where has the time gone?!? I know it's cliche to say this, but I feel like IB was born yesterday. This little girl has been growing before our eyes. From weighing 8lbs 11oz at birth to a guesstimate of low 17lbs at six months (6-month checkup is Monday). Not to mention the personality she has already developed. IB certainly inherited her mommy and daddy's laid-backness, but we'll see if that sticks once she becomes mobile.

MILESTONES:

1st Month --> Smile

2nd Month --> Found Thumb & Laugh; National Zoo in DC

3rd Month --> Rolled from Tummy to Back; First Time in a Pool and First Plane Ride

4th Month --> Found Feet and Feet in Mouth

5th Month --> Responds to Name and First Tooth Coming in; First Earthquake

TODAY --> Sitting for as long as 30 Seconds Unassisted



This little one has been a true blessing in our lives. I am so excited to see the new things IB learns to do throughout the second half of her first year.