~family are the sweetness of a song~

Not bad for a Monday

2009-10-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

I had a really good day, and I’m feeling pretty satisfied with my accomplishments. I started off the day by getting up and going to the gym. Usually, if I can make it there on a Monday morning, the rest of the week is looking good.

While Karis took her morning nap Abbie and I went outside to find the prettiest leaves we could, and then I ironed them in wax paper and cut them out. She had so much fun taping them to the windows, and now our house looks even more autumn-festive!

I’ll be going to my second MOPS meeting on Wednesday. The leader told all the moms to have their kids bring in pictures of animals for the next meeting because the teachers would be talking about creation. Since I was on a craft kick this morning I decided to have Abbie look through magazines to find pictures of animals. I then cut them out and she taped them to a sheet of purple construction paper, one at a time. I was impressed that she spaced the pictures out over the page—no overlapping at all! I could tell she was proud of her work; I hung it up on the fridge to show it off (and so I won’t forget it on Wednesday!).

After Karis woke up, off we went to the post office to mail my mom’s camera back to her and then to a hardware store to buy more canning jars. My mom and I made apple butter this past weekend, but definitely did not have enough jars! We came home, ate lunch, then the girls ACTUALLY TOOK NAPS. I could hardly believe it!

So while they slept, I canned the rest of the apple butter. This was the first time I’ve attempted canning on my own, and it turned out perfectly.

I had a really good day :-)

Am I a "play-it-safe Mom"??

2009-10-18T17:10:00.000-07:00

I have a problem. I’ve been dealing with Restless Hair Syndrome for a few years now. I tried getting a long-hair perm in the spring of 2008. That was nice for a few months, but the longer my hair grew the more it felt like it was just taking over…and since I was pregnant with Karis at the time, re-perming was not an option. Next I tried a shorter, more feathery look. I was hoping for edgy-punk but it turned out much more mellow. A few months ago I went even further: really short in the back, longer in the front, with heavy bangs angled to the side. This style looks pretty edgy when I blow-dry it forward and style it with wax, but I have to admit it’s still a bit mild.

My sister colored her hair this past weekend. When I saw her copper-colored streak, I almost died. Why didn’t I ever think of doing that?! It looks awesome! Then while searching for cool hair styles online last night, I came across this description of Katie Holmes’ progression from short pixie cut back to, well, basically my current hair style: “Oops. From sexy youthfulness back to play-it-safe mom-do.” GAH! My hairstyle screams PLAY-IT-SAFE MOM! I simply cannot stand for this. I will be calling my stylist friend this week. This time, I will not settle for anything less than awesome.

Proper attire required.

2009-10-01T09:13:00.000-07:00

When he shall come with trumpet sound, o may I then in him be found
Dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.
~Edward Mote, My Hope is Built on Nothing Less, c.1834

Matthew 22:2-14

Have you ever watched What Not to Wear? If so then you’re familiar with jokes about fashion catastrophes that Stacey and Clinton would never approve of. The hosts of the show attempt to enlighten participants to just how awful their clothing choices are, and then bring them up-to-date so that they can show their “true selves” to the world by the way they dress. Clothing usually does make a loud statement about the way we want other people to think about us. If I’m rich, you’ll know it. If I want you to think I’m a punk, you’ll know it. If I’ve just given up and don’t care about myself anymore, you’ll know it.

Can you imagine the scene going on in this parable? The master’s servants are herding people into the banquet hall from right off the street—one guy was walking his dog, one guy was on his lunch break, one lady was finalizing a business deal via cell phone, a teenager was hailing a cab. This wedding invitation was immediate—there was no Save the Date involved, and no RSVP card to fill out. The food is ready NOW—come on in!

So when I read a few verses later where the master starts picking on some guy who didn’t have time to get all dressed up, I’m a little put off. Give the dude a break! He came right from work and didn’t have a chance to go home and change. When you’re so last-minute about something like this, you really can’t expect anyone to be prepared!

But that’s one big difference between our culture and the culture of the people Jesus was telling this parable to. Proper wedding attire was provided by the host for all the wedding guests. Wouldn’t it be nice to attend a Black Tie event where the tuxes and gowns (in just your size!) were ready and waiting for you in the coat room?! That’s what the master was doing for his guests. All they had to do to get into the banquet was put on the clothes he provided for them.

Apparently, this one guy just wasn’t down with that. Maybe the tux just wasn’t his style. Or maybe he didn’t want to look like everyone else there---maybe he wanted to wear his business suit and tie to show everyone else at the wedding what a good job he had, or how far up the ladder he’d climbed, or how hard he had been working all day (and so really deserved to be there). Whatever his motivation for refusing the master’s only request, he wanted people to notice him—and so he stuck out like a sore thumb.

It was obvious to everyone that he was more interested in himself than he was in honoring the son who this wedding feast was all about in the first place.

Do you remember when Paul (in Philippians 3) rattles off all his accomplishments—that he was raised as a good Jew, he followed the law to a T, and he did great works for God—all things that should have given him the right to stand before God? Yet after this list he makes this shocking statement:
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him,

He’s referring to Isaiah 64:4 which says: “All our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” And neither Paul nor Isaiah are just talking about needing to do laundry or take out the trash. The words “rubbish” and “filthy rags” literally translate to ‘soiled menstrual cloths!' Ok, even in our culture where women having their period aren’t considered unclean or forbidden to go to church, that’s a pretty disgusting image. This guy waltzed into this beautiful banquet on his own terms—wanting to show off his achievements—but he was basically dressed up in…well…filthy rags. You get the idea.

You and I have been invited into the feast of the Kingdom of Heaven. But what do we have to wear to get in? What is the gift that God has freely given us that, unless we receive it, we have no place celebrating with him? Paul follows up his shocker with a simple answer to this question:
not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

In order to get into the Kingdom of Heaven, we need to dress ourselves with Christ Jesus, and freely (and humbly) accept what HE has accomplished on our behalf—the forgiveness of our sin and the right to stand unashamed before God. No matter how long we’ve been going to church, no matter how many good deeds we did for strangers last year—none of our righteousness can dress us well enough to attend the banquet.

You’re standing in the banquet hall cloak room, staring at that tux or gown. If you put it on, you will look like everyone else at the party. Nothing will distinguish you, and you won’t be able to wear your accomplishments on your sleeve. If you decide to stay in what you’re wearing, everyone will notice you for sure…but you’re only going to be thrown out.

Will you be humble enough to leave behind your own statement to the world about how much good you’ve done? Will you become more about celebrating and honoring the Groom than you are about making sure others know who you are and what you’ve done? Then in faith get dressed in the clothes God has provided to you free of charge: forgiveness, mercy, grace, and righteousness, and get ready for the time of your (eternal!) life!

Rethinking 'Rethink Church,' pt. 1

2009-09-17T05:45:00.000-07:00

Have you seen this commercial?

Or these?

These are a little older, but check them out anyway:

I'd love to get your initial thoughts on any or all of these ads. What do you think the main message of these videos is? If you were (or are) not a Christian, what would you say the point of going to church is, based on these ads? If you are a Christian, what do these ads say to you?

I sat in a workshop this past weekend that presented the United Methodist Church's new "Rethink Church" campaign. We watched some of these videos and discussed what it would look like for our churches to change the way we "do" church to be more outwardly-focused. I think there are some positive aspects of this message (a point on which I will ellaborate in a future post), but something is bugging me big time as well. Let me know what you think it is!

Praying

2009-08-25T19:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Abbie was playing with her dollhouse toys. She brought out the table, chairs, and the "Mommy" and "Daddy" to the living room. After a few minutes, she laid the two dolls face-down on the couch and I overheard her say "Mommy, Daddy praying. Thank you Jesus, so much. AMEN."

It made my week.

Because no one else is reporting it.

2009-08-20T21:03:00.000-07:00

Army of the Lord? Obama Seeks Health Care Push From Pulpit
Thousands of religious leaders got a call from on high Wednesday as President Obama reached out to Jewish and Christian clergy, asking some to sermonize in favor of health care reform.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/20/army-lord-obama-seeks-health-care-push-pulpit/

Two-year-old theology

2009-08-19T14:25:00.000-07:00

At lunch this afternoon, Matt asked Abbie if she knew who made the spinach we were eating. He told her, "God made spinach." Not long after that, Abbie replied, "Jesus...made spinach!"

Apparently, my two-year-old grasps trinitarian theology. Most fabulous.

Starting college?

2009-08-18T12:25:00.001-07:00

Have you noticed all the going-back-to-school commercials targeted at college freshmen and their parents that have cropped up in the past few months? I've started to see a trend that not only encourages but also sanctions the irresponsible and risky lifestyle of college students that the media has been so fond of portraying. The latest Target commercial, for example, features a student's mother (in all her maternal naivete) buying her son a bed comforter (which he subsequently uses to hide the fact that he's making out with a girl at a football game), a dorm-sized refrigerator (which he packs with Red Bull and other dangerously overly-carbonated drinks), and a desk lamp (which he uses as a blacklite to pimp out his raucous dorm room party). The last scene of the commercial shows the son calling his mom up, seemingly to report what a good student he's being.

Now, I went to a Christian college. My roommates never had boys sleep over. I never went to parties featuring beer kegs or drinking games. I got in trouble during my freshman year for overspending on my debit account, and I gained way too much weight on french fries and other junk food. So I'm not saying that I made the best choices as a college student. But the idea portrayed in these commercials that parents should stay blissfully ignorant while unleashing their irresponsible kids on the world to sew their wild oats is just absurd! I'm a big supporter of kids going away to college (because I've seen so many people my own age who lived at home during college or didn't attend college at all and now are living dead-end lives), but I also believe that with so much freedom comes a butt-load of responsibility. I think it's unfair for adults to expect and encourage kids to live irresponsibly during the first big test period of their lives. So to all my friends starting college this year: MAKE GOOD CHOICES!

Saying goodbye to Lucy

2009-08-04T12:41:00.000-07:00

After three and a half years of having Lucy as a part of our family, Matt and I have decided that it's time to find a new home for her. We've been realizing over the past few months that we haven't been very fair to her in terms of giving her the amount of attention, play, and exercise that a lab really needs to thrive and have a happy life.

I'm sad that we're giving her away. She's been a terrific dog for the kids--she's gentle and unobtrusive and she lets the kids get away with anything! She's obedient, easy to train, and very apologetic when she does something wrong. She never messes with anything that's not hers. Really, we couldn't have asked for a better dog.

But I'm also happy because she'll be going to live with my sister-in-law's family. My niece and nephew fell totally in love with Lucy when we lived in Jersey during June, and my sister-in-law and her husband are really looking forward to having a dog again (especially one who's already house-broken). They have a huge fenced-in backyard where Lucy can run free and since they've owned dogs before, they know what having a dog entails.

We've been talking to Abbie over the past few weeks that Lucy is going to live with her cousins, and that we'll get to see her once in a while. I think she understands. Still, I think she is really going to miss her. I think I will too. Thanks for being a great dog for us, Lu, and we hope you love your new home!

I love Shepard Smith.

2009-08-02T19:11:00.000-07:00

Wherein I gush with parental pride

2009-07-09T10:36:00.000-07:00

I am so proud of my daughter. It is exciting to see her personality emerging and the goodness of her heart being expressed throuh her actions.

She loves to share with her little sister. Although sometimes this is problematic (say, when there's an extra Easter basket or rice heat pack to share), Abbie is getting really good at making sure Karis has a toy to play with. Whenever Karis cries, Abbie is the first to bound over to her, coo "Oh, Karis!" and give her a comforting hug and kiss (before commanding, "Mommy, feed Karis!"--ha!)

Abbie has also been practicing doing very grown-up things lately. She's working on getting her baby doll into a nap routine; she puts her in a diaper, nurses the baby, then puts the baby to sleep in Karis' bassinet. Then she announces to me in a whisper "Baby sleeping." The best part, of course, is watching her sit in my rocking chair and nurse her baby. I must be raising her right!

And then there's her frequent desire to pray. As a family, we've always prayed before meals and before bed, but recently I've added prayers once or twice a day for sick people in our church, or just people who are on my heart. Apparently, this has inspired Abbie. Sometimes in the middle of a meal she'll reach out her arms to Matt and me and say "Pray!" Then we all hold hands, bow our heads (yes, she bows her head too) and thank Jesus or tell Him we love Him. Sometimes I'll say, "I love you, Jesus" and she'll add "SO much." !!!!!!!!!!! I love that she understands who Jesus is and knows that she can talk to Him anytime she wants. (So to all the nay-sayers against infant baptism--yes, my 2 year old has indeed been brought into the grace of God and is becoming a disciple of Christ.) She challenges me to grow closer to the Lord, too...and to have faith like a child.

What can I say?

2009-07-08T18:07:00.000-07:00

This is the question that has kept me from posting during the last few days/weeks. I'm now married to a high-profile man (relatively speaking) and I have no idea who's reading my blog, and if or how much my opinions, frustrations, disagreements, ramblings, etc. will "reflect" on him, and in what way. I feel like I should just lay it out there: this is my blog and the opinions I express are wholly my own. If you're reading this to spy on my husband, you've come to the wrong place. And if you read something that insults you or ruffles your feathers, talk to me about it--don't go to him.

Don't get me wrong--I love Dingmans Ferry. Everyone we've met has been friendly and hospitable, and we've felt very welcomed. The area is much more remote than I'm used to, but it's beginning to grow on me. The more I see of it (one of the church guys took Matt and me off-roading in his Jeep on Monday--SO awesome) the more I fall in love with the area. I've seen more deer and turkies than I have in years, not to mention the family of Canada geese crossing the road in a straight line and the tiny turtle sunning itself on a rock. It's really charming.

And the parsonage is surprisingly wonderful. It's so much bigger than our Wilmore house, with so many closets and kitchen cabinets we barely know what to do with them!

I guess I just needed to lay my cards on the table. Ever since I said some negative stuff in a previous post about Matt not getting commissioned for ordination (which I changed after hearing indirectly from a blog lurker through Matt that it was a touchy subject and I shouldn't bring it up), I've felt hesitant about expressing my opinions, especially if they're negative. Especially about the UM church. And believe me, I have a LOT of disagreements with the UM church! However, I believe that the Lord called Matt to be a minister of the Gospel through the UM church, at least for this time in our lives. And when we got married, I promised Matt that his people would be my people.

But I digress.

Bottom line: I like it here. I love the church and the house, and I'm really looking forward to serving DFUMC as a layperson while seeing how the Lord uses Matt's gifts and talents for His glory and the Church's edification. However, I reserve the right to express my opinions in this blog, and respectfully ask that anyone reading/lurking would respect that right without assuming that what I think/say reflects negatively on my husband in any way.

Thank you for reading. I look forward to you journeying with me (although silently, which seems to be the case for many of you!) as I continue to grow as a person, wife, mother, and daughter of God in the coming months.

My Review of Nature Babycare Diapers 30 Ct - Size 4

2009-06-27T06:48:00.001-07:00

Toys R Us

Nature babycare is the result of many years of intense work and development. The first award winning ECO-friendly high-performance diaper, based on new green technology, protected by a Swedish patent. The diaper is soft, thin, comfortable, & the ultra-thin construction gives a non-bulky fit,...

WOW--no blowouts!

Mom of two under 2 Pike County, PA 6/27/2009

Pros: Highly Absorbent, No poop blow-outs, Snug Fit

Cons: Stiff

Best Uses: Infants

Describe Yourself: Parent of Two or More Children

My 6 month old daughter was leaking through her cloth diapers at night, so we had been using Pampers. Unfortunately, every SINGLE time she pooped, the Pampers leaked. So gross. I decided to give Nature Babycare a try. AMAZING! Highly absorbent, and absolutely no poop blowouts (the leg gussets contain the mess while not being too tight). I'm thrilled that this chlorine-free, biodegradable diaper is comparable in performance to even the most expensive brand of traditional disposable diapers. From now on, when my baby's not in cloth, she'll be in Nature Babycare!

()

End of Intermission.

2009-06-23T18:46:00.000-07:00

In some ways, our short stay here in Jersey has been sort of like the intermission in the Beatles' movie Help!

Here's a brief wrap-up of what's been going on with us during the past few weeks:

1. We sold our house! In other words, we've officially been homeless for two weeks now. Let me tell you, it was a weird experience closing on a house via overnight mail!

2. We bought a minivan. But when you see me driving around in a 2009 grey-blue Honda Odyssey wih leather seats and power everything, don't write me off as the average soccer mom. According to Matt, our kids will never, EVER, play soccer. :-)

3. Staying up late, sleeping in late. We may not be healthy, wealthy, or wise, but we sure are rested and quite happy!

4. Abbie has finally grown out of her bedtime separation anxiety. Now when we put her to bed, we sing a few songs, pray, then tuck her in and say goodnight. And she goes right to sleep! Relief.

So our intermission will come to an end on Sunday when we caravan up to Dingmans Ferry to move into the parsonage. Woot!

How is this possible?

2009-06-22T17:49:00.000-07:00

My little baby is 6 months old. Well, more like 6 months and one week old at this point. And she's sitting up! How in the world did six months go by like blur?

Day trippin'

2009-06-18T20:29:00.000-07:00

Matt and I took a day trip to Lanchaster county, PA today. We were mostly going to check out a non-toxic Strobel mattress that represented too big of an investment to make blindly (and the closest showroom happened to be 3 hours away), but we decided to take the kids and make a day of it. We had such a great time as a family! We ate a big lunch, went to the model train museum, and did some shopping before we even went to check out the mattress. Abbie absolutely loved the horse-drawn buggies. We even saw a horse and buggy going through an ATM drive-through. Odd. Matt splurged and bought me an antique drawing table which I am enthralled with! And I was pleasantly surprised with how well the girls did without naps. Awesome, refreshing day.

Pastures new

2009-05-24T18:29:00.000-07:00

Have you heard the song Pastures New by Nicklecreek? If you have, then you'll know how I'm feeling about moving away from Kentucky, to New Jersey, and ultimately to Eastern PA. The song is wistful, sad, and hopeful at the same time. And that pretty much sums up the mixture of feelings I've been experiencing this past week. I turned in my last assignment of the semester on Tuesday night (well, actually more like 1am Wednesday morning), celebrated a make-shift birthday for Abbie and Matt on Wednesday, then started intensive house-packing on Thursday when my Mom arrived. Matt's parents came in on Friday afternoon, right after I got my tattoo finished (pictures to follow...eventually!) and right before our open house when our friends stopped by to wish us well. More packing Friday night, graduation events on Saturday, more packing, church this morning, final packing, then Matt, his dad, and my mom hit the road around 1:30. Matt's mom, the girls, and I are spending our last night at Asbury Inn, and we'll fly back to Jersey tomorrow afternoon. Needless to say, I haven't had very much down-time to rest, much less process my thoughts and feelings about ending this phase of our lives and beginning the next. So, while I'm sitting in the dark listening to Bella's Lullaby (from the Twilight soundtrack) on repeat in an attempt to get Abbie to finally fall asleep, I'll do one of my favorite things: make a list :-)

Things I'll miss about Kentucky:
the big sky, and especially the amazing sunsets
our church. our small group. our Sunday school class, and all our church friends
Ryan, Aura, and their awesome kids
my professors and classmates who have taught me SO much
Christmas in Wilmore
our first home, where Karis was born
the many odd and goofy "Kentucky Moments" (my favorite was a homemade bumper sticker on a rusty pick-up truck that said "I'm the only hell my mama ever raised." Classic.
seeing tractors and the occasional horse driving/trotting down our street
my friends from school
Ale-8-1

Things I'm looking forward to about PA:
waking up to singing birds
making new friends
being closer to all 4 parents
being closer to the city
seeing our backyard in the fall and winter
moving into a new home
Abbie's Goodnight Moon room
seeing Matt grow into his calling as a minister of the Gospel

I am so thankful that the Lord brought us to Wilmore to begin our life together as a married couple and to start our family. Although we've experienced some extremely lean times, we've lacked for nothing. We've made friends who have loved us and cared for us and our kids, and who have taught us how to really BE friends, even though we knew that our time here was short. The Lord has truly provided for us in every way, which had helped me to trust Him even more.

The church I grew up in had a message in big gold Gothic letters painted on a panel across the ceiling. It said "He Goeth Before." I know that's true for us as we rest in Jersey for the next month, and then as we move to PA to start our ministry. Praise be to the Lord for His faithfulness. How can I repay the Lord for all His goodness to me?

Abbie's birthday!

2009-05-20T19:00:00.000-07:00

A few pictures from today's events for your enjoyment!

Breakfast in bed with Daddy

"I'm TWO!"

First ever haircut--before...

...during...

...after!

Abbie's cake, decorated lovingly by Aunt Aura, Jesse, and Caleb...

...which she inhaled :-)

Isn't she lovely?

Isn't she beautiful?

Painted nails!

First ice cream cone

Happy birthday, sissy!

Tattoo: phase one

2009-05-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

Last night I endured about two and a half hours of being stuck thousands upon thousands of times with a needle injecting ink into my dermis! Ha--that sounds so dramatic. I was actually pretty surprised with how little the process hurt; the only time I had to employ my labor relaxation skills was when Elli was doing the initial outline toward to top of my shoulder. Other than that all I felt was a mild stinging sensation and as long as I was talking or someone was talking to me, I was distracted enough not to feel any pain at all. Fortunately my best friend Pamm came with me and provided much comic relief. If you're at all interested in learning how tattoos actually work, check this out.

So at long last, here it is!

I am VERY pleased with how it came out. I have an appointment in two weeks to have the artist add color; I have to wait until my skin heals from the first phase. She could have done it all at the same time, but the shop closed before she could start with the color.

Milestones!

2009-05-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

Karis was chomping on my knuckle this afternoon and I felt something tiny and sharp--her first tooth is starting to come in! I was a little shocked, because she really hasn't been drooling that much, and she's only been a little fussy during the last few days. Yaay for pain-free new teeth!

Have I mentioned that she rolled over from back to front for the first time last week? She still gets stuck on her belly :-)

Also, equally as shocking--on the way back from our family trip to Kroger this afternoon Matt and I suddenly realized that Abbie (sitting in the back seat, babbling to herself as usual) was reciting the alphabet! RECITING THE ALPHABET! Yes. She is 23 months old.

Falling in love (again)

2009-05-02T11:16:00.000-07:00

This experience with potty training Abbie has been pleasantly surprising! Although we have a little potty I used when I was doing infant potty training with her when she was a few months old (which I still think is a fabulous idea, and I'm fully convinced that it would have worked if I would have been more persist ant...but wuddia gonna do), Matt and I decided that it would be better to put her on the big potty every time, for consistency's sake. This is really only possible because Matt is done working at UPS, so we've both been home the whole week.

Basically several times a day I sit on a folding chair across from Abbie and just hang out. I guess I hadn't realized how little time I've spent one-on-one with her since Karis was born. These times with Abbie have really made me fall in love with her again! I think for several reasons we've been functioning in survival mode as a family for a few months now, not just because we have a toddler and an infant to care for, but also because school/work have been stressful and we've been so busy preparing to move. It's been easy for me to just be a functional mom for Abbie instead of functioning + fun + affectionate, which is what I want to be for her. I love hearing her squeaky little girl voice repeating the alphabet after me and seeing the HUGE smile on her cute face when she finally pees! It's hard to believe that she's almost out of diapers.

TMI

2009-04-28T11:06:00.001-07:00

...is it really weird that I excitedly took a digital photo of Abbie's first potty poop? C'mon, other parents! Fess up! :-)

So much to blog about!

2009-04-27T07:21:00.000-07:00

A LOT has happened since last I blogged.

Make 'em an offa they can't refuse
On Friday morning our realtor called us with VERY good news: the couple that had viewed the house on Wednesday made an offer!! So far everything is going smoothly—we’re waiting for the housing inspector to stop by sometime soon. Our house was only on the market for 3 weeks! This is definitely an answer to prayer.

ER
Also on Friday morning Karis woke up gasping for breath. I brought her to her doctor who gave her an ambuterol (sp?) treatment which seemed to help a little bit. He sent us home with a prescription for antibiotics (although he thought she had viral bronchitis, he wanted to prevent phenomena) and a nebulizer just in case she had breathing problems again. That was around 10:00am. Around 12:45 she started gasping again, so I (frantically) put Abbie down for her nap and gave Karis another breathing treatment. Which didn’t help at all. So I called a friend to come stay with Abbie while I brought Karis to the ER. Matt met us there and they took us back right away. One epinephrine treatment, one steroid treatment, three x-rays, and 3 hours later, Karis was diagnosed with croup. Which both Matt and his dad had when they were younger. I stayed with her at the hospital overnight, and by about 3am she was breathing normally again. I was so proud of her—she handled the experience like a champ.

Potty success
After Abbie’s bath on Saturday night she was running around the house without a diaper and had a tiny accident. I brought her to the potty and after a few minutes…she peed! Last night we put her on the potty again before bed and had another successful visit! So today we started potty training in earnest. We have a few pairs of cloth training pants and bought some pull-ups to use in lieu of diapers. We’re using homemade banana chips, dried cranberries, and banana nut cheerios as incentives to stay on the potty. I know potty training is something most parents dread (I’ve read that some people actually HIRE professional potty trainers to train their kids—can you believe that?!) but I think it’s going to actually be a fun experience. Since Karis was born I sort of have to parse my attention during most of the day, and usually only get to spend one-on-one time with Abbie during bedtime. But sitting on a folding chair opposite her sitting on the potty lends opportunity for all sorts of fun---we count cheerios, point to our elbows, ankles, knees, ears…sings the ABC’s while I teach her signs for the letters, and even read books. It would be so awesome to have her out of diapers by the time we move in with Matt’s parents!

Scraped knee
On Sunday Abbie got her first scraped knee while walking from church to our car. I loved putting Neosporin and a band-aid on. I felt like a commercial mom!

Eight hours
I nursed Karis last night at 11:00. And didn’t nurse her again until 7:45 this morning. GLORY!

And that’s why we don’t vaccinate (against non-deadly diseases)
Here’s my rant: what is the deal with this swine flu epidemic?! How in the world did a virus that infects pigs morph into a virus that could infect humans (and, as an aside, is resistant to the two oldest forms of the normal flu vaccine—there are four altogether). Oh wait, I know. Maybe because everyone and their uncle is too much of a wuss to deal with a little seasonal flu that they rush out to get an unnecessary vaccine which then causes the virus (that a normal person’s immune system would be able to fight off without a problem) to morph into a super virus that even a normal immune system has problems fighting! Is it really in the interest of public health to perpetuate these sorts of vaccines?

Nightmares + egg hunts

2009-04-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

I had a nightmare last night that our house was suddenly infested with rats. We found two dead rats on the kitchen floor, and I watched one chew its way through a wall. So creepy. I think it's my psyche's way of dealing with my increased amount of anxiety over selling the house after a few things have gone wrong in the past week: the piping under our kitchen sink is leaking, the door knob on the office closet has jammed (although Matt says that's an easy fix), and I noticed a lot of mold on our backyard fence yesterday afternoon after a downpour. The fence is definitely too weathered to handle a pressure wash, so I think we're just going to have to let that one go. Our realtor put our house up already, albeit without pictures. I must say it is extremely surreal to see the For Sale sign in our front yard. I nearly cried when I saw it for the first time (which was partially due to the fact that I had stayed up until 4:30am the night before attempting to clean and stage the house for pictures, and was emotionally unstable).

Also, have you noticed all the Easter commercials this spring? I've seen all sorts of commercials for "spring" dresses, shoes, cheap candy, and pre-fab Easter Bunny baskets. An ad in Parents magazine proclaimed: "Perfect dresses for egg-hunt day." And a WalMart commercial assured me that "Easter costs less at WalMart." Really? I was unaware that the church holiday celebrating Jesus' victory over the grave to which He sacrificed His life to atone for the sins of all the world could be more cost-effective at a major francise. I know Jesus and Santa have been duking it out for years, but it seems like the next round will be between Jesus and the Easter Bunny. A good friend of mine invited me to bring Abbie to an egg hunt this afternoon hosted by her family-centered church. I declined. What used to be an innocent compliment to the celebration of Easter is slowly and deliberatley morphing into a secular distraction from the highest Holy Day of the Christian year. Sorry, Easter Bunny--you're cute and all, but I'd rather encourage my daughter to hunt for the empty tomb than your candy-filled eggs.

Our house looks awesome!

2009-04-06T19:20:00.000-07:00

Our house has never looked better! Over the weekend Matt and I dug out all the weeds in our front flower beds and perennial garden, laid down new mulch, Matt cut the grass, pruned the hedges (ha--I hope you know that quote!), and power-washed the mold off the shingles on our storage shed. I washed the windows (and window sills, which were truly gross), organized and vacuumed Abbie's room, did the same in the office, and did some serious work in the bathroom: scrubbed the floor, cleaned out and organized the laundry closet and under the sink--basically made it shine like the top of the Chrysler building (movie quote #2!). Our friend from school spent 3 hours cleaning our shower on Friday because Wilmore water is nasty, and now it's actually white!

I never knew how satisfying REALLY cleaning the house could be. I decided that it would be a good idea to do this kind of intensive organizing and cleaning at least twice a year...because we've never done it before and after four years living here, cleaning is pretty time-consuming.

Another thing that cleaning like this does is make me feel proud of our space. I've always enjoyed our house but I think I've taken it for-granted to some extent. Matt used to have a problem with how I left my clothes and stuff around the house because it wasn't respectful stewardship...and my excuse was that I just wanted to be comfortable in our house. And I've always liked having a clean house, but was never motivated enough to keep it clean. The more I think about moving into a new home, the more I'm looking forward to a clean start (literally), and having a chance to find the balance between cleanliness/organization and creating a space that we're all comfortable in.

Tattoo in progress!

2009-04-03T18:54:00.000-07:00

This afternoon my bff Pamm and I went to a tattoo shop in Lexington to talk with one of the artists about my sparrow and lilies tattoo. Pamm was with me when we got our first tattoos in college, and when I got my belly button pierced (I missed her most recent ear piercing, unfortunately), so we kind of have a tradition going. Although I've been collecting ideas and sketching for a few weeks, I realized that I needed the help of a professional artist if it was going to look really good. We talked to a girl named Elli (check out her portfolio here) who was really patient as I tried to explain the image I was thinking of. And I think she's going to be able to create something really cool. She told me to call her toward the end of next week and she'll update me on how the design is coming along. !!!! I'm SO EXCITED to see what she comes up with!

Packing

2009-04-02T10:48:00.000-07:00

This week is my reading week (aka spring break), and Matt took off Wednesday through Friday from work. It's been really nice having him home! Yesterday I was so productive--all before noon I met with a small group of classmates to discuss our upcoming class presentation, got the dog's nails cut at the groomer, renewed my car registration and got a new driver's license. (I'm usually still shuffling around in my pj's at noon!)

But our main goal this week is to get the house looking presentable for potential buyers. This feat entails purging our closets, taking old clothes to goodwill, dusting, vacuuming, and packing up books and decorations to give the appearance of tidiness and as much space as possible. We're even hiring a friend from school who cleans houses to come over tomorrow morning and clean our shower (which is stained from Wilmore water--ewwww) and lenoleum kitchen floor. We're also working on the landscaping...neither Matt nor I are really big into gardening, so all the flower beds are overgrown and not very attractive at this point.

I'm trying to be optimistic about being able to sell the house. I know that my optimism or pessimism isn't going to affect whether or not the house sells, so I'm choosing optimism for my own mental health. :-) The best we can do is get the house looking its best, hire a good realtor (which we've already done), and trust that God will provide for us like He has countless times in the past.

After almost four and a half years here, it's finally time to start saying goodbye.

DITL March 30, 2009

2009-03-30T18:40:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I've done a day in the life blog entry. In fact, it's been almost a year since the last one! This is my way of documenting my family's life in tribute of our average days and average adventures. Enjoy :-)

Yes, that's right. No one in our house woke up before 9:45am. Amazing!

Look at that blue sky and those blooming trees next door!

Abbie eats breakfast with Daddy. Kix, banana, and cheese. This is the third day in a row we've given Abbie dairy products (cheese, butter, chocolate) WITHOUT INCIDENT! Do we dare to believe that she's grown out of her milk allergy?

Back in bed to nurse Karis.

Full tummy = happy baby!

10:30am: Matt leaves for work and the girls watch Seasame Street. You'll notice that our living room is a disaster, Abbie is wearing underpants as a hat, and Karis is wondering what in the world is going on. This is pretty much our life on a daily basis! During this time I consider washing dishes, doing my hair, or eating breakfast. Breakfast wins out.

Much of my morning consists of changing diapers. Two in cloth is...challenging.

I couldn't resist uploading this one as well :-)

1:00pm: Ready to go! Stop #1: the salon to get my monkey eyebrows waxed (finally!) Stop #2: Pet shelter to visit our friend Anna and the new kittens they just got.

We go to visit our friend Anna, who works at the Jessamine County pet rescue center. Abbie LOVES the cats, but is not so fond of the barking dogs. Would have taken more pictures, but Karis was crying and needed to be held!

2:30pm--Lunch for Abbie and Karis and then...naptime. Glorious, glorious naptime!

I debate the pros and cons of doing homework against the pros and cons of napping with the kids. Ok, ok, I think--I'll nap for an hour. Then suddenly my phone is ringing--it's Matt saying he's on his way home. It's 5:00. D'oh!

Sorry kiddo--it's 5:45, you need to wake up!

Everything's better when Daddy comes home. Abbie and Matt play while Karis finishes her nap and I make dinner.

6:40pm: Dinner is ready. Peanut chicken satay with onions and rice. Pretty good, even without the fish sauce.

After dinner pics:

We decide to take a walk after dinner. It's still sweatshirt weather, but spring is everywhere!

We still like each other :-)

8:00pm: I put Abbie to bed while Matt works out. Goodnight, Moon. Goodnight, Abbie :-) Then I nurse Karis and she falls asleep, too.

Other plans tonight include washing the huge pile of dishes, reading for class, and pouring myself into bed around 1am.

Home remedies + staying healthy

2009-03-27T08:44:00.000-07:00

I've been fighting a sinus infection during the past few days. I get infections at a ridiculous frequency, which is really quite annoying. It seems like if there's any chance I could possibly get an infection, it happens. Well anyway, I decided to do everything in my power this time to clear out my sinuses and avoid getting yet another sinus infection this season. Have you ever used a Netti Pot? If not, I highly recommend this handy little device. It's basically a little teapot in which you mix a salt solution with distilled water, then insert the spout into one nostril, tip your head forward and to the side, and let the water solution flow through your sinuses and out the other nostril. It feels freaky the first time or two, but the feeling of clear sinuses is OH so worth it! So I've been using the Netti Pot like it's going out of style. I've also been a separate sinus rinse with grapefruit seed extract (1 drop mixed with 2ml water)--putting a dropper-full of the solution into each nostril while my head is tipped back, then swinging my head forward and down to force the stuff into my sinuses. Now, this really burns! But bad bacteria doesn't stand a chance against grapefruit seed extract! I've also been adding about 20 drops to a full glass of orange juice, along with liquid echinasia in hopes of boosting my chronically weak immune system. So far, the remedies are working and my sinuses are starting to be more clear than stuffy.

Oh, and did you know that breastmilk works to clear up pink eye in adults as well as in babies? I now have first-hand experience with this home remedy as well.

(Yes, my winter has been plagued with less-than-optimal health.)

Here's another thought. A few weeks ago a friend of mine sent me an article describing the dangers of hand sanitizer for young children. Basically, a 4-year-old licked a puddle of hand sanitizer off her hand and wound up having a blood alcohol level that was through the roof. This is exactly why I've never used the stuff on Abbie (and obviously not Karis). I mean, this kid's hands are ALWAYS in her mouth. But after giving that article some thought, I realized that I've never even had Abbie wash her hands with handsoap. Not even once. The most we do is wipe off her hands with a wet washcloth after meals...and I always keep her fingernails short because of all the crud that gets underneath them otherwise. And you know what? I can count the number of times Abbie's been sick in her whole life on one hand. Is there a correlation here? I don't know. But what I do know is that she (unlike me) has a very strong immune system--an it's not as if she's not around other kids or in germy situations ever.

So what home remedies do you use?

That all happened in one week?!

2009-03-23T18:14:00.000-07:00

I talked to Matt a few times during his 2-day retreat last week. Each time he sounded relaxed, but I could hear a little hesitance in his voice whenever he would say that he thought it was going well. Now, we've always been painfully aware that this was not going to be a "rubber stamp" situation; we know all too well that he might not pass his interviews. However, we got our hopes up the week before because Matt's district superintendent told him that they had an appointment set up for him, provided he passed his interviews. We decided to risk having Karis and me fly up to Jersey mid-week, just IN CASE we got to meet with the church during the weekend.

It's hard to describe the emotional crash that I experienced after a long day of traveling with a 3-month-old by myself (our 1:40pm flight was delayed until 6:00pm) all the while anticipating good news from Matt when I landed, and instead hearing him tell me that he didn't pass his interviews. I began crying almost immediately (a very rare reaction for me) and I felt so angry and confused. The board had some good reasons for not passing him. They also had some reasons that I very much disagree with, and which I intend to address more in detail at a later date, because I think my voice and my experience as a Christian speaks directly against the board's theology.

For the following two hours, our future was in limbo. Matt's DS told him that the appointment might still happen, but couldn't say for sure. Would the board send Matt back to Kentucky to work for UPS for another year and expect him to gain church experience on his own? or would they take a chance and appoint him as a licensed local pastor? Matt was reserving his emotional response until he heard; I was letting it all out.

Then we get a call from Matt's DS saying that she had spoken to the bishop, who had spoken to the new DS, who had AGREED TO TAKE HIM ON and mentor him through his first appointment! Now here's the curve ball:

the church is in Pennsylvania.

Dingman's Ferry, Pennsylvania.

It's located in the middle the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, which basically means it's in the middle of the woods. I can see only one other house from the parsonage, and I have to strain my neck and squint to even see that one! BUT the church is phenomenal. And the parsonage is really nice; I'm already planning a Goodnight Moon-themed new room for Abbie! And for being in the middle of no where, the church is big! And it's been growing in the last few years...it seems perfect for Matt and our family. Adjusting to the location will probably be the biggest challenge for me, but I'm also looking forward to the beautiful fall colors, camping trips, and learning how to fire a gun! (And I've already been daydreaming about giving birth to our next baby in a birth pool on our huge back porch in the middle of the night....ahhhh---all that nature around me and then POOF! A new little creation! :-)

So, I'm emotionally spent. But I can't shake the feeling that God is very near to us, providing for us and preparing us for this adventure.

(Picture taken from http://dfumc.com)

Matt's schedule

2009-03-16T09:52:00.000-07:00

Just in case you want to pray for Matt (hint, hint!) here is his schedule for the next two days (topics and interview times):

Monday (March 16)
4:30p - Theology
7:15p - Preaching

Tuesday (March 17)
9:30a - Teaching
2:15p - Polity (UM church structure)

oh, and...

2009-03-15T10:52:00.000-07:00

...today is Karis' 3-month birthday. :-)

(so quiet!)

2009-03-15T10:32:00.000-07:00

It's 1:32pm on Sunday afternoon. I am sitting on my bed, next to sleeping Karis, listening to the birds outside. And nothing else! Normally around this time on a Sunday Matt's music would be blasting from the living room while we all finished up lunch and got the girls down for their naps (after which time Abbie would be babbling and singing to herself in her crib for the next hour or so before actually falling asleep). But today Karis and I dropped Matt and Abbie off at the airport and now we're home alone!

In case you haven't yet heard, there's good news on the Riley front. Matt will meet with his Board of Ordained Ministry tomorrow and Tuesday in New Jersey (Abbie is staying with his parents) and if he passes these interviews, he'll be approved to start his provisional membership which is a 2-3 year trial period before UM pastors get to be fully ordained as Elders (i.e. head pastors). Matt put together a mock interview with some folks from our church a few weeks ago and feels really prepared since then. But here's the good news: last week on Monday Matt's DS called him and asked him to fill out a form that they use to match pastors with church appointments, because decisions were being made the next day. And here's the GREAT news: The DS called AGAIN later that week and said that the bishop wanted to know if he could stay in Jersey through the weekend because, provided the interviews go well, he wants Matt to interview with the church where he'll be appointed!! As you can imagine, this is a pretty rare situation. I'm so thankful that we're not going to have to wait 2 or 3 more months to know where we'll be living--this means I can mentally prepare, apply for a practicum site, and start praying for the specific church we'll be at. Wahoo!

After that phone call I decided that I wanted to meet the church too (it's normal for the spouse to go on the church tour)--so Karis and I will be flying up to Jersey on Wednesday and staying through Sunday when we'll all fly back together. I'm so excited! Not only to meet the church and see our new house, but to see the family, for everyone to meet Karis, to have a break from school, and to eat real pizza :-)

Until then, I have an annotated bibliography to work on for my research class and a very messy (but quiet!!) house to clean up. Oh, and just to clarify--NO, Matt and I are NOT trying to get pregnant right now. I thought that went without saying when I wrote my last post, but apparently not :-)

Result: negative.

2009-03-13T10:19:00.000-07:00

I've taken two pregnancy tests since last night. Matt finally convinced me to take one after the past few weeks of feeling extremely tired, hungry at night (even after eating a full supper and snacking every few hours), and being scent-sensitive. Both tests came out negative. To be honest, we're both a tad bit disappointed. I knew for sure that the result would be negative (I thought it was silly to take the test in the first place), but I couldn't help hoping--just a little--to see the pink positive sign. What can I say? We like babies :-)

Birthday blog (pt. 2) + new tattoo

2009-03-06T09:13:00.000-08:00

Well, the rest of my birthday was as good as I hoped. Matt threw a surpise party for me with our small group from church and a few of our friends. We had chili (that I made--oh yum) and ice cream cake, and Matt gave me an AIR POPPER so we had pop corn too. (I've been wanting an air popper for just about ever.) And the whole time we listened to the Aradhna albums Matt bought for me. This band is amazing. And you've probably never heard of them, so do check them out. We had a lot of fun.

I'm not sure if it's because I am now officially into my "mid-twenties" or if I'm just feeling the intra-pregnancy itch, but I've decided that right now is the perfect time to do some twentysomething things before it's too late. I'm planning to cut most of my hair off into a spikey/feathery/textured look as soon as I can get an appointment with my stylist. I'm also contemplating the design for my next tattoo! I've been wanting another one for a while now, but because 1)I was pregnant and 2)I had no idea what I wanted, I've been waiting. Then the other night a brilliant idea came to me, and now it's just a matter of designing it. What I want is a flying sparrow like this or this (not a swallow--there is a huge difference in symbolism) and a lily or lilies (but I haven't decided on whether I want and Easter lily or more wildflower-type lilies), over my shoulder something like this. It will be black and white with lots of shading--I want it to look like a realistic, detailed pencil drawing. I'm thinking it will probably be one that needs to be completed in 2 or 3 phases, which means a lot of pain and a lot of money. :-) But I'm excited! I'll write more about the symbolism later. Tell me what you think!

Birthday blog (part 1)

2009-03-02T10:34:00.000-08:00

I am twenty-six years old today! At 3:40am on this day back in 1983 my mom pushed me into the world (with the help of forceps but no pain meds--ouch). I was 7 lbs., 2 oz, and (let's not be modest) really cute. Thanks, Mom!

So anyway, back to the future. Birthday festivities began on Saturday, when one of my oldest and dearest friends, Pamm, brought me out to eat at Red Robin and then to the movies to see Taken. We also went to Starbucks in-between because we ended up having a lot of extra time. It was so fun to go out with her and leave the girls at home with Matt--it's nice to feel like a person in my own right now and then :-)

Earlier on Saturday I took the girls on our first shopping venture as a trio to Old Navy. This went surprisingly well! I nursed Karis before we left and timed coming home perfectly with Abbie's lunch and needing to nurse again. Score. I set out to buy new jeans partially because I'm sick of maternity jeans and partially because all the jeans I own are either flare or boot-cut, and I've decided the look is getting a little young for me. So I found a great pair of wide-leg jeans (albeit two sizes larger than I was wearing pre-pregnancy with Abbie, but I figured, heck--they look good on me and I need to take it easy on my body. After all I've popped out two kids in under two years). When I came home, Matt had done most of the dishes, which is usually my chore.

Last night Matt gave me a new slow cooker which was half the size of the one we already have. I was planning to make chili for our small group tonight and knew that even our big crock pot wouldn't be big enough to feed thirteen adults and six children. He said that was the least exciting of the four gifts he was giving me. And I think that was a pretty good gift! So I'm looking forward to whatever else he has up his sleeve.

Today has been a normal day so far at home with my beautiful daughters. Except that I got to open my birthday cards that I've been accumulating all week long. I hate to admit it, but I LOVE receiving cards on holidays. I know it's cheesy and commercialized and expensive...but I love it nonetheless. I also got roses from my dad which was a really nice surprise, and made French toast for myself and Abbie for lunch. (I am addicted to French toast, but it has to be served with butter, cinnamon/sugar, and just a little syrup to be acceptable. YUM.)

On a totally unrelated note, this video make me laugh so I thought I would share:

I smell like Jesus

2009-02-23T10:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my Sunday school class decided to spend our time together praying for each other rather than doing the typical lesson/discussion. Every week we take prayer requests at the end and throw up a short general prayer, but most of us have been going through unusually hard times lately, so it seemed like it was time to do some more serious praying.

So we went around the room, family by family, sharing our concerns. After one family shared, a few people would gather around them to pray. It was a strangely wonderful blessing to hear others' prayer concerns and to share their burdens if only for a few minutes. One of the class members brought anointing oil with him and offered to anoint each person as we prayed for them. Now, my knee-jerk reaction to being anointed with oil is pretty negative; during high school, when I was going through multiple surgeries on my ankle and not healing, several well-meaning folks anointed me with oil at different times, hoping that God would perform a miracle and I would be totally healed before their eyes. Needless to say, that didn't happen, and I couldn't help but feeling like I had disappointed their expectations or hurt their faith by not getting healed. So when Shawn offered to anoint us, I just sort of complied. And, as I expected, nothing "happened."

But as I left church that afternoon, I kept getting a whiff a frankincense every now and then (it took me a few times to remember that the smell was coming from my forehead). A few times that afternoon Matt jokingly told me "You smell like Jesus!" And it made me realize that the oil represented God's presence with me. Which was really comforting.

Hanging out at home

2009-02-21T18:53:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the card, Aunt Janet!

Tummy time for the little one.

New pictures

2009-02-18T10:57:00.000-08:00

Karis dressed up in Mommy's dedication dress.

...and this was Abbie's first time holding her little sis :-)

7 hours

2009-02-18T05:33:00.000-08:00

That's how long Karis went between feedings last night, which means that I got a solid six and a half hours of sleep. Glorious!

New president!!!

2009-02-17T08:26:00.000-08:00

Asbury Seminary announced this morning that Dr. Timothy Tennent will be inaugurated as our new president! This is great news, as we have been lacking presidential leadership since the Fall of 2006. I don't know much about Dr. Tennent, but I have read his book, Theology in the Context of World Christianity which, if you remember, was on my Best Of 2008 list as a book you MUST read.

Welcome, Dr. Tennent, and may the Lord be with you as you take on the task of leading Asbury!

Why my kid's mouth is purple

2009-02-06T10:26:00.000-08:00

I've gotten a curious reaction from a few other moms when I've mentioned that Karis has thrush: their eyes bug out, they gasp and/or groan, and then give me a pitiable look before saying, "Oh, I'm SO sorry! Thrush is SO HARD to get rid of!" Hmm. Well, during an impromptu trip to the UTC last Saturday when I brought Karis in for what I thought might be pink eye but was actually just a plugged tear duct, I asked the doctor to swab Karis' tounge and, sure enough, a little bit of yeast turned up on the culture. Her tounge has had a thick white coating since she was about 3 weeks old, but because it wasn't spreading in her mouth, she wasn't passing it to me, and she wasn't complaining, I figured I'd wait it out. But the white stuff hasn't gone away, so I've decided to tackle the problem with gentian violet. This stuff is EXTREMELY MESSY and will basically dye anything it touches, even after it's dry. Since Karis has had a diaper rash also for a few weeks, I've decided to let her go diaper-free for a few hours a day and expose the rash to sunlight (yeast hates sunlight, apparently) as well as using yogurt to treat the rash. Yummy. Hopefully, all these magic remedies will work and my baby will finally have a normal pink tonge. Until then, she'll look like this:

She...really likes her cell phone.

2009-02-06T10:21:00.001-08:00

Superbowl countdown!

2009-01-29T08:26:00.000-08:00

http://steelerladies.com/

...and...

GO STEELERS!!!!!!!

WIND AND SNOWWW!!

2009-01-28T17:46:00.001-08:00

My town has been completely encapsulated in ice for two days now. We haven't had an ice storm like this since 2003, and a lot of people are saying this storm is worse. But while most of the county has shut down (including the seminary, which is extremely rare), Matt still had to drive into Lexington for work yesterday and today. Grrr. It took him a half hour to chip out his car yesterday morning! I appreciate that he works for such a dedicated company, but c'mon...

In other news, Candace and I had our last postpartum appointment on Monday! The end of an era! Karis weighed in at 11 lbs., 14 oz! which I am super proud about. And we're still uncertain of whether or not she has thrush; there is still a thick white coating on her tounge and she has a persistant diaper rash, but I'm not having any thrush symptoms which seems strange (she should have spread it to me by now). I'm just praising the Lord that we've gotten through 6 weeks with no colic and relatively restful nights--it's such a pleasant change!

My experience today

2009-01-20T17:53:00.000-08:00

Like most Americans, I was watching the Presidential Innaguration this afternoon. But unlike many, I was watching the president's swearing-in and acceptance speech in a roomful of seminary students. I wasn't sure what to expect at this event, but it was immediatey evident that almost everyone there voted for the other guy; the crowd was silent and solemn. Well, all except one woman--an African American woman who at first was crying and then silently cheering Obama on as he spoke. It was an experience I will not soon forget. What I will remember most was the strong impression in my spirit to begin praying in ernest for our president.

Karis update

2009-01-12T18:40:00.000-08:00

Karis and I had our third postpartum appointment today. Although it was kind of rushed (Candace had just come from two back-to-back births!), there was nothing but good news. Karis has gained a solid TWO POUNDS since birth--she is now 10 lbs. 10 oz! I could hardly believe that Candace was reading the scale correctly :-) Wahoo for breastmilk!

Best of 2008

2008-12-31T19:18:00.000-08:00

Here are some of my favorite memories from 2008.

~By far, the absolute best was giving birth to Karis peacefully in our home, without drugs, and in the water. It was so many dreams come true.
~Celebrating Abbie’s first birthday with our church friends and family
~Matt getting hired at UPS…and getting promoted to management within a few months
~Our annual summer journey to New Jersey, and meeting our new nephew Evan
~Getting to know Ryan and Aura (and their three awesome kids) better, and deepening our friendship with them
~Spending a beautiful summer day at Ocean City with Derrick, Kerri, and Summer. Gosh, we miss them!
~Thanksgiving in KY with a very random gathering of church folk; have I mentioned lately how much I love our church family??
~All the family babies who were born: Evan, Dylan, Xavier, Leandro, Mia, and Leah and Luke (ok, last two aren’t technically family, but they’re close!)
~Nicole and Tyler’s wedding
~Getting all A’s during my first 9-credit semester of grad school
~Getting passionate about politics for the first time in my life (even though my guy lost)
~Dr. Systma’s Human Sexuality class last January, and traveling to Atlanta in April to take Basic Sex Therapy. I finally know my calling!
~Good books I’ve read (and recommend): Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth, Soul Virgins (Doug Roseneau), Theology in the Context of World Christianity (Timothy Tennent), and a great article entitled A Christian View of Sex in Art by John Stuart Peck. Read these!
~Our awesome small group and spending six weeks just talking about how awesome marriage is
~Watching Abbie do the hand motions to Itsy Bitsy Spider during the Christmas Eve service
~New Year’s Eve at home with Matt and our two sleepy girls

Family of four!

2008-12-28T18:30:00.002-08:00

Even though Abbie was extremely cranky and Karis was hungry, we were able to get some pretty good pictures at Sears today. It's so hard to believe that we're a family of four now!

My postpartum journey: Week one

2008-12-23T20:19:00.000-08:00

Warning: graphic content. If you get queasy reading about birth and related matters, you may want to skip this entry!

Oxytocin rush.
I read in stories and heard from friends who had had natural (drug-free) births that immediately after the baby is born, the mother experiences a powerful rush of the “love hormone” oxytocin, which immediately bonds her to her baby. Let me tell you what—it’s true! Although I didn’t really recognize it until it wore off, I was on an oxytocin rush all day Tuesday. I felt so relaxed and dreamy; all was right with the world! I wasn’t even in any pain—I think I may have taken one Tylenol the whole day, and pretty much just stayed in bed with Karis all day long. Ahhh…it was heavenly!

Sitz baths.
Any new moms out there will be familiar with the experience of after-birth sitz baths. Sitting on the toilet in a bowl of warm water for 20 minutes, two to three times a day. BORING! After Abbie was born, I was so unmotivated to do sitz baths that it took me forever to heal. This time, I decided to be a little more industrious. I set up a tray table right in front of our toilet and spent my sitz bath time online or writing thank-you letters for the scholarships I received last year! It ended up being good alone time. Gross, but when you’re a mother of two children, you do what you gotta do…

Breastfeeding.
I thought it was supposed to be easier the second time. I thought that, because I knew what I was doing, it wasn’t supposed to hurt. Every La Leche League leader and breastfeeding guide says that, if the baby is positioned correctly, the mother’s nipples won’t get cracked or sore. I’d politely like to disagree. Saturday was probably the most pain I’d been in since Abbie started breastfeeding. The worst part of the pain is the persistence of the baby’s need to EAT! Two hours in-between feedings is certainly not enough time to heal, even with lanolin cream. I admit I resorted to the pacifier and the pump and bottle several times that day. Karis and I have gotten better at the whole process, but I’m still healing (slowly). On a related note, I am publicly declaring my eternal gratitude to whoever invented these.

Split pelvis?
I think I may have split my pelvis on Thursday. I’m not sure about this, but from everything I’ve read, my symptoms fit the description. Unfortunately, there’s nothing anyone can do about it. I’ve tried several different positions laying down, but pretty much I’m in constant pain. Anyone with suggestions would be very much appreciated!

Uterine infection.
Turns out, I hadn’t expelled all the…uh…membranes involved with the placenta, even though the placenta was completely intact when it was born. Weird. Anyway, it came out (blahhhhhh) on Saturday night along with a lot of retained blood (which set off another round of after-birth contractions that hurt like Hades)—one of the most terrifying experiences I’ve had lately, as I didn’t know what was going on at first. Anyway, I was already at a higher risk of infection because I lost most of the lochia (after-birth blood) before the placenta was born as opposed to after, and the retained membrane increased my risk even more. Plus, I tend to get infections rather easily in general. Not so much fun. The next night after feeling hot and body-achy, I took my temp. It was 101.4! Yikes! I immediately called my midwife and she advised I visit my doctor in the morning if my temperature was still up; she suggested that it was a uterine infection because I had no symptoms of either breast or urinary tract infection. Needless to say, between the breastfeeding pain, the split pelvis issue, and the emotional rollercoaster of expelling the retained membrane, I was at my breaking point. I was exhausted. If it was an infection, I would need antibiotics, which would increase my risk for developing thrush. Which would make breastfeeding close to unbearable. Matt and I decided to pray…he prayed that God would heal my infection and take my fever away…

Healing.
…The next morning, I took my temperature, expecting it to be elevated again. It was 97.7. I had no body aches. After a few minutes it dawned on me that God may have healed me! I was hesitant to acknowledge this thought for a few hours; after all the fever may come back…it may have just been a bug…it may just be a coincidence. (This is how I usually dismiss God’s practical interventions in my life.) When the fever didn’t come back all day long, I finally admitted to Matt that God had answered our prayer!!

It has been a good week. I am thankful that Matt was able to take off work to spend my labor-day with me and two full days after Karis was born. I’m thankful for my Mom who has been staying with us, helping us take care of Abbie and our house. I’m thankful for my beautiful baby girl who is healthy and happy. I’m thankful that I worship a God Who hears my little prayers and cares for my everyday needs.

Finally, pictures!

She's here!

2008-12-16T20:54:00.001-08:00

Karis Rhea-Noel
was born gently at home,
in the water,
into our hands!
December 15, 2008
10:37pm
8lbs., 10oz.
21 inches

Welcome to the world, sweet baby!

Christmas card

2008-12-07T11:20:00.001-08:00

What I'm looking forward to

2008-12-04T08:56:00.000-08:00

First of all, let me say that I've officially never been pregnant this long before. Abbie was born at 37 weeks and 6 days, which means that I have now been pregnant 2.5 days longer than I was last time. The funny thing is, I remember being SO ready for Abbie to come starting at like 34 weeks... partially because I was working a full-time desk job that made my swelling worse and made the days draaaaaag on and on. I am so happy about how much more comfortable I am this time. It's the chiropractic, I'm telling you! (Even though I had to cancel my appointment this past Monday because Abbie's 18-month check-up overlapped my appointment time.)

But as Karis' birth draws nearer, I am starting to think of all the things about labor and birth that I'm looking forward to:

1. The possibility of having some time to myself. If my labor starts during the day while Matt is at work, I am planning to have a friend take Abbie and spend some time laboring by myself at home. As strange a plan as this may sound, I think it will help me relax and get into a good labor pattern.

2. The impulsive drive to nest! There are some small preparation projects that, because I've been focused on wrapping the semester up, I haven't been able to get to yet. I'm hoping to have a surge of energy during early labor when I can get some of these done.

3. Spending uninterrupted time with Matt, and all the back massages he's going to give me! He was an awesome co-laborer during Abbie's birth, and I'm hoping that during this birth, since we'll be at home, he'll feel even more free to really "be with" me.

4. Feeling natural labor. Strange perhaps, but true! Since my labor with Abbie was induced with pitocin (the drug of the devil!!!), my contractions were extremely (and unnaturally) uncomfortable and persistent for over six hours. Even if my natural contractions are this uncomfortable, I'll be experiencing the power of my OWN body, and will not feel afraid that I might be hurting my baby. I'm excited to experience just how strong my body is!

5. Laboring in water. Huge tub, warm water up to my neck, being weightless, being able to change positions easily....need I say more?!

6. Feeling Karis being born. Because I had an epidural with Abbie, I literally felt nothing except pressure during pushing and when she was being born. I'm sure some women would be jealous of how "well" my epidural worked, but for me it was a real disappointment. I felt disconnected from what was happening, and it seemed like I had lost all control of the situation; I never felt the "urge" to push, so instead several nurses took to coaching me. I'm really looking forward to being able to follow my own body's cues of when to push, for how long, when to back off, etc. And to feel Karis actually being born is going to be SO cool!

7. Bringing Karis up out of the water and seeing her face for the first time. Matt got to catch Abbie, I get to catch Karis!

8. The peaceful atmosphere that we'll create after the birth. Karis' umbilical cord will be left intact for a few hours after the birth (we won't cut the cord until ALL the blood has drained from it), and I will nurse her as soon as she's ready. Candace and her assistant, Amy (an RN) will do all the newborn exam procedures right there with us, and then we'll just get to BE together as a family in our own home, with no nurses rushing in an out, no postpartum room to transfer to, no drugs to recover from.

9. Living the birth story that we'll get to tell all our friends and family. I'm excited that this story is yet to be written and lived! Will labor be fast or last for days? Will my water break first? Will it be night or day? Will it snow? How will Abbie greet her baby sister? No matter what happens, I welcome this experience. I am ready.

Happy 18 month birthday, Abbie!

2008-11-20T17:44:00.004-08:00

Today is also Abbie's 18 month birthday. It literally feels like last week that we celebrated her 1-year birthday! Here's what she can do these days:

~Run
~Go to sleep at night without a pacifier (we're still working on the nap...)
~Dance to any song she hears (swaying her upper body from side to side or spinning in a circle)
~Use a fork and spoon, as long as Matt or I load it with food first
~Walk across a parking lot holding my hand
~Put big Legos together and take them apart
~Fit some shapes into her shape-sorter (but gives up quickly if she can't find the right space!)
~Say mama, dada, puppy, baby, breakfast, juice, ball, that, Amen, up, and bed. She also has words for banana, Elmo, and Lucy
~Follow simple directions (like getting her ball, picking up her book, going to her couch, and handing something to me that she's not supposed to have
~Play with a baby doll--patting it, kissing it, hugging it
~Use sign language for drink, food, thank you, please, and all done.
~Give real kisses and hugs

Happy 18 months, Abbie!

My accomplishments today

2008-11-20T17:31:00.000-08:00

have been many!

--FINALLY got my mop of hair that was engulfing my face cut and layered. It's still just as thick (and will be until probably 6 months postpartum), but finally managable. I do plan to get it permed again after Karis is born.
--Bought mineral make-up from my hair stylist who mixes all-natural cosmetics here in Wilmore. What can I say, I am addicted to supporting local business.
--Made chicken salad for lunch. I desperately need the protein, but I've been putting off making it since Monday.
--Enjoyed Abbie's 3 hour nap. These are becoming more and more common. Thank the Lord!
--Got the dog's nails cut.
--Went to WalMart to buy the last few supplies we need for our homebirth; all that's left on the list is a drinking water-quality garden hose. Hmm...
--And most impressively: I won a war against Anthem to cover my midwife as an in-network provider!!!!!!! This feat entailed being on the phone for a solid 3 hours (yes, that's what I did during naptime), talking to six different people at Anthem, calling all seven nurse-midwives within a 30 mile radius of my home that would be covered by Anthem to confirm that they do not in fact attend homebirths, and confirming with Anthem that, as far as my benefits are concerned, birthing at home is covered no differently from birthing in a hospital. To quote Batman Begins:

Bruce Wayne: "I'm supposed to understand all that?!"
Lucus Fox: "No. I just wanted you to know how hard it was."

Ahhh...a victorius day!

Pictures of a happy kid

2008-11-18T17:44:00.002-08:00

Diagnosis: Pregnancy!

2008-11-13T12:01:00.000-08:00

As could have been expected, I've been having a very difficult time getting my insurance company to cover my unconventional maternity care. When I started the authorization process back in July (when I first started seeing Candace), the information I received from BCBS seemed too good to be true: midwives are completely covered as in-network providers! Yipee! It seemed to cut-and-dried...I should have been suspicious.

Just yesterday I found out that because Candace is not a CNM, I have to request an exception for my care from her to be covered. This will be considered out-of-network, which I've deduced means that we'll be paying more and our insurance will be paying less. Between yesterday and today (in all my copious end-of-semester spare time) I've talked to about eight different employees who have all passed the buck to someone else. After all these conversations, I'm still not sure that the authorization process has officially begun. What's worse is that because I've been seeing Candace since July, I have to obtain retroactive authorization as well as authorization for future care. Gah! Obviously, they want to discourage me and make this process impossible so I just give up and pay the full amount (which will still be less than if we were to have Karis in the hospital).

Is it just me, or have you experienced major frustration when it comes to communicating with insurance companies? Don't get me wrong; I'd rather experience this kind of frustration with a private insurance company of my own choosing than have to jump through bureaucratic hoops of the sort I'm sure our new president-elect will establish in the coming years....but that's beside the point. I'm an educated person! Yet somehow the insurance jargon confounds me. I feel like I should know far more than I do, but am prevented from even understanding the basics of my coverage.

Plus, the insurance world simply doesn't appreciate unconventional maternity care. Although my plan covers CNM's, three people I spoke with required education regarding the difference between CNM's and CPM's (Candace's certification), nor will they accept the fact that there ARE no CNM's within a 30 mile radius who will attend homebirths, even if I wanted to be cared by one!

Anyway, I wanted to share a disturbing but hilariously ironic conversational interchange I had with one of the BCBS employees yesterday afternoon. This came after a long explanation of my situation and desire for my maternity care to be covered:

Employee: "Ma'ma, what is your diagnosis? Pregnancy?"
Me: (Taken-aback laugh) "Uhh...yes. That's a funny question."
Employee: (Embarrassed chuckle) "Well, I just assumed..."

Regardless of whether or not our insurance pays us back, I wouldn't have traded Candace's midwifery care for a traditional ob's "care" for anything. I've felt so confident and calm throughout this pregnancy because I have been cared for by a professional who is accessible, knows me, has taken the time to listen to my dreams for this birth, and has exceptional expertise and experience. This is worth almost any price...although I'm still hoping that BCBS comes through for us!!!

Cutest kid ever

2008-10-31T19:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of our Halloween. Enjoy!

Abbie as Abby Cadabby!

Karis went as a jack-o-lantern :-)

Our pumpkin: The Bat Signal!

Crappy.

2008-10-28T12:21:00.000-07:00

For a few weeks now I've been in a lot of pain. My lower back, hips, and shoulders have been achy so that it hurts to walk and especially to pick Abbie up. Yoga helps for a little while, but because of my class schedule, I've only been able to go once this month. The worst is trying to sleep at night. Normally (when I'm not pregnant) I LOVE our matress. But pregnancy is a different story; no matter how many support pillows I use, and no matter which position I try, I wake up in pain.

So I decided to try chiropractic for the first time in my life. Heck, it couldn't hurt, right? I had to wait a week and a half to see the doctor, so I was really looking forward to my appointment yesterday afternoon (even though I had to bring Abbie with me, and I wasn't sure how she would do). The appointment itself went great! I liked the doctor and felt confident that she knew what she was doing. The most bizarre feeling was when she cracked my neck! I left the office feeling awesome—I could walk without looking like I was 90 years old!

The doctor warned me that things might go back to (painfully) normal shortly after the adjustment since it was my first time and my body wasn’t used to it. So we made another appointment for next week. However, she didn’t warn me about what excruciating pain I might experience as a direct RESULT of the adjustment. Not only did I feel like I got hit by a train last night (I woke up 3 times, and even 2 Advils didn’t have any effect!), but I also got a wicked cold that hit me like a bag of bricks about 2 hours after I got home. At first I thought it was just a weird coincidence (my colds never come on that fast), but my midwife told me that after an adjustment, sometimes toxins are released into your body and you have to drink a couple gallons of water to flush it all out. Ugh! Why didn’t I know this?!

Needless to say, I haven’t left the couch except to change diapers today. And I’m skipping class tonight to go to yoga to hopefully stretch out my very very sore muscles. More than anything I’m just frustrated. I have at least three more weeks (and possibly up to nine weeks or more!) before Karis would be born a full-term baby, and my school work is piling up. I have so much to do in the next few weeks, and I need energy to get it all done. Ugh.

Equally Skilled

2008-10-22T11:55:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to share the lyrics of a song I love. It's called Equally Skilled and it's on Jon Foreman's album Fall. Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How miserable I am
I feel like a fruit picker who arrives after the harvest

There's nothing here at all
Nothing at all here that could placate my hunger

The godly people are all gone
There's not one honest soul left alive here on the planet

We're all murderers and thieves
Setting traps here for even our brothers

And both of our hands
Are equally skilled
At doing evil
Equally skilled
At bribing the judges
Equally skilled
At perverting justice
Both of our hands
Both of our hands

The day of justice comes
And is even now swiftly arriving

Don't trust anyone at all
Not your best friend or even your wife

For the son hates the father
The daughter despises even her mother

Look! Your enemies are right
Right in the room of your very household

And both of our hands
Are equally skilled
At doing evil
Equally skilled
At bribing the judges
Equally skilled
At perverting justice
Both of our hands
Both of our hands

No, don't gloat over me
For though I fall, though I fall
I will rise again
Though I sit here in darkness
The Lord, the Lord alone
He will be my light.

I will be patient as the Lord
Punishes me for the wrongs I've done against Him
After that He'll take my case
Bringing me to light and to justice
For all I have suffered

And both of His hands
Are equally skilled
At ruining evil
Equally skilled
At judging the judges
Equally skilled
At administering justice

Both of His hands
Both of His hands

Are equally skilled
At showing mercy

Equally skilled
At loving the loveless

Equally skilled
At administering justice

Both of His hands
Both of His hands

Karis!

2008-10-14T12:55:00.001-07:00

Abbie's birth story (at long last)

2008-10-08T19:29:00.001-07:00

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Cool things a'happening

2008-10-07T16:20:00.001-07:00

1. It’s starting to get chilly in Kentucky! Now of course, as always, we are only flirting with Fall; there are some chilly days interspersed between 80 degree days, but we’ll take what we can get. This of course means jeans and long sleeves…and super cute fall clothes for Abbie! Since she’s walking proficiently now, clothes look even cuter on her (I was excited about her fall clothes last year, but to be honest she still looked pretty schlumpy).

2. This week marks the 30th week of my pregnancy (a.k.a. 7.5 lunar months, or ¾ of the way done). It’s so hard to believe that we’ll be meeting Karis in about 10 weeks (maybe more like 8 weeks if she follows her big sister’s example)! This is super exciting, but also a bit unnerving. We’ve already taken our one-time, two-hour couple’s labor workshop which served to jog our memories about breathing techniques, positions to labor in, and the phases of labor, but aside from that we haven’t done much as far as physical preparations for this birth. Things that helped prepare me for Abbie’s birth were taking about 15 minutes every day to relax and deep-breathe, practicing relaxation while Matt touched my arm or back with an ice pack, squatting, Kegel exercises, and walking every day. I am pretty ashamed to say that even though I know these things help, I haven’t been diligent at all in actually doing them this time. Is 10 weeks enough time? Fortunately, I have been pretty faithful with going to yoga every Saturday morning.

3. Matt and I decided that we wanted to do a 3D/4D ultrasound of Karis after all. So, I scheduled it for next Tuesday afternoon! I can’t wait to see her little face!

4. Mid-terms are already upon us. Where is this semester going?! I feel like I’m breathlessly trying to keep up with my work, but successfully for the most part. I am enjoying my classes, and I’m happy that I decided to take the 9-credit plunge this fall.

5. My mom is coming down to KY this weekend! We’re planning to make Christmas presents (in accordance with our rather tight budget this year) and just hang out. This will be my mom’s last visit before she comes to take care of Abbie while Karis is born….that’s crazy!

6. Our church family retreat is coming up in three weeks. More than ever, I am looking forward to it; the past two years have been so much fun that my expectations are definitely high! I love being in the Kentucky mountains with the awesome fall colors, drinking hot chocolate near the open fire in the lodge, chilly mornings, eating and worshipping with our church family, and snuggling with Matt at night. A bunch of the 20-somethings are going and bringing their little kids who are around Abbie’s age, and I’m really looking forward to seeing them all play together.

A political post.

2008-09-19T12:26:00.000-07:00

I did some research this afternoon in response to a challenge by a friend. Here are the fruits of my labor :-)

He Said: I would like to discuss you dicision to vote for Sarah Palin. Number one, Sarah (if its not to formal to call her this) did not bring refom to alaska. She has gone back and forth on many policies that she signed for, Lied.
Such as the "Bridge to Nowhere". A project that the Us governmet gave the state of Alaska $422 million dolars to build. Later, when John McCain, spoke out about this, she quickly told the Government the bridge was not to be built, BUT kept the money. And people wondered why it took so long for their stimulus check to arrive?

I Said:
Bridge to Nowhere:
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/wm889.cfm
(Oct. 2005 report on diverting funds to Louisiana and AK general funds)
http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/08/29/did-palin-really-fight-the-bridge-to-nowhere.aspx
(In 2005 funding was pulled for bridge; at this point, Palin opposed making AK pay for it instead)
http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed7/idUSN3125537020080901
(Palin’s claims to have opposed bridge are inflated)

Thoughts: It is interesting that so much controversy has been created over an issue that seems to have been mostly resolved before Palin began her tenure as governor in 2006. By October of 2005 Congress had decided to pull funding for the Bridge to Nowhere, at which point Palin spoke out against supplementing the amount given by the US government with AK taxpayer dollars to complete the project. The earmarked money collected by AK has been used to build and improve roads in other parts of the state. Collecting this money has absolutely nothing to do with any delay in the receipt of stimulus checks, as you have claimed. Stimulus checks were released according to a schedule that was published online long before the checks went out; anyone complaining that their neighbor received their check weeks before they did could have easily checked the published schedule.

He Said: Secondly, she hires shady people to work for her. One for instance that is a thief, being accused of not "being a tem player when in budgeting issues." Now this in it self implys alot, and the only viable reason for dissmal would have to be... Thieft.

I Said:
Troopergate:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/03/cbsnews_investigates/main4413750.shtml
(early report re: intentions of investigation)
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/18/palin-suggests-trooper-probe-tainted-by-obsessive-partisanship/
(investigation is becoming increasingly politicized)
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/17/alaska-ag-says-no-to-subpoenas/
(cooperation waning due to questionable authority of investigation)

Thoughts: No news agency has the corner on this story at this point, as the investigation is ongoing. Unfortunately, it has become increasingly tainted and politicized in the midst of the election season; whether or not the “truth will come out” before the November election is yet to be known. Palin has claimed that the official was relieved of his position due to insubordination, major disagreements, and other issues; that fact that he did not fire Palin’s former brother-in-law (who has since admitted to endangering the life of his wife and child while serving in official capacity) is only one of several reasons. The legitimacy of this claim is what the investigation originally sought to prove or disprove. If you have references regarding Palin’s hiring of “shady” characters, I’d like to see them.

He Said: Now it would seem that she had done a good job in making the income better in Alaska, but if youll look back in 2007 she took a business trip with her family. A trip that came to the grand total of $43,490. Taken for the tax payers of Alaska. That would make her a THIEF as well.

I Said:
Per Capita personal income increase during Palin’s tenure (Nov. 2006-present):
http://www.wiche.edu/Policy/FactBook/tables/tbl_58.pdf
(24,830 in 2002)
http://www.labor.state.ak.us/research/trends/nov05inc.pdf
(34,454 in 2004)
http://www.statemaster.com/graph/eco_per_inc_percap-economy-personal-income-per-capita
(35,732 in 2005)
http://ded.mo.gov/researchandplanning/indicators/wages/pi_2007.stm
(from 38,138 in 2006 to 40,352 in 2007—5.8% during tenure; 0.6% more than the US average)

Thoughts: Palin WAS successful in increasing the AK per capita income during her tenure as governor; the average increased by a greater percentage than the national average between 2006 and 2007.

$43,490 2007 travel expenses:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/09/palin_per_diem_travel_expenses.html
(Expenses not unusual; often declined meal expenses)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080909/ap_on_el_pr/palin_travel_expenses
(Expenses reduced dramatically from former admin: $93,000 in 2006))
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080909112500AA3IEcK
(Conversation re: the high expense of travel in Alaska)
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-perdiem9-2008sep09,0,7637908.story
(Under state policy, par diem is allowed to be claimed for children)

Thoughts: The fact that collecting the par diem is a normative (and acceptable) practice in AK, even for family travel expenses must also be considered in the context of (1) Palin selling the governor’s jet that contributed to (2) the former governor’s extravagant travel expenses ($93,000 in 2006 alone). Within this context, Palin’s collection of a $43,490 par diem for 2007 was neither unusual nor inappropriate. Other facts to consider are (1) she lives 600 miles away from Juneau, and (2) her family members are often asked to join her on official state business trips. This amount of money was not spent on a single vacation as you have claimed; this reimbursement spanned an entire year of expenses.

He Said: If all of this doesnt scare you...
http://www.rightwingnews.com/mt331/2008/08/sarah_palin_with_a_gun_in_kuwa.php
...Should. Any person who is this "ok" with firing a gun made specifically for war, is not a person I want as a president.

I Said: Obviously, you and I have major ideological disagreements regarding the war in Iraq, which I respect. To me, this video represented the fact that not only has Sarah Palin been a member of the NRA and avid hunter for most of her life, but she has also taken an interest in what out military ACTUALLY DOES. I doubt that Obama can say that he has had any hands-on experience with military weaponry like this. This video also represents to me the fact that the US military is armed well. This may not mean very much to someone who considers shooting a military weapon to be an act of unjust aggression and murder (as you seem to—correct me if I’m misrepresenting your view of war), but to me, it means that the volunteer who make up our army are suitably armed to not only protect our country, but also to advance freedom in parts of the world in which that freedom is suppressed. This is important to me because I love our country and I want all people to have the ongoing freedom to choose who governs them. After several years of studying political philosophy, I believe that democracy, although imperfect, is the governmental structure in which this best can happen. Iraq is(surprisingly) moving more and more toward a democratic system and the people are starting to take power away from insane dictators and extremist sectarians who want to kill them. If our guns help that happen (which they have done and are doing), I say go for it. But we can debate the war at a different time. Also, let’s not forget that Palin’s son has been deployed to Iraq as of two weeks ago. She is certainly not indifferent to the concerns of military families, nor does she believe that her son is fighting a war in vain.

He Said: She wants to BUILD A WALL on the Mexico-Us border (sound like BERLIN).

I Said:
On immigration:
http://www.ontheissues.org/Sarah_Palin.htm
(tightened restrictions on illegal driver’s licenses)

Thoughts: Uh…can’t find anything on a Berlin Wall between the US and Mexico. Do you have a source for this statement? A fence/wall is already in the process of being built under the Bush administration, although I have not seen much proof of its ability to restrain illegal immigrants from crossing the border. Whatever the method, the next presidential administration needs to come up with a pretty stellar plan to restrain illegal immigration; Palin already opposed handling out drivers licensees to illegal immigrants (a really nice little liberal idea), but as far as I can see has not set out a plan of her own regarding immigration. Let’s not forget that she’s going for the VP spot; what you should be looking at is McCain’s plan on immigration if you want to oppose something. (As a side note, the Berlin Wall was built to divvy-up a country after its defeat in a world war, so as to prevent its regaining of power. A wall between the internationally-recognized national borders of the US and Mexico would be more like the Great Wall of China, built to keep out invaders from the north.)

He Said: She wants to remove sex-ed from schools, that or teach abstinence.

I Said:
On public school sex education
http://www.ontheissues.org/Sarah_Palin.htm
(opposed “explicit” sex ed. Programs, wants to give parents more control over their own child’s curriculum, “parents know best”)
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-73417
(editorial re: palin’s non-support of explicit sex ed programs)

Thoughts: Most people don’t know that public school sex education today has deep roots in a very clear historical agenda to indoctrinate Americans into a view of sexuality that is completely void of any moral boundaries. Brief history lesson: Kinsey began to conduct highly unethical research into human sexuality in the 1940’s. He subsequently founded the Kinsey Institute to conduct the research. Soon after it lost its institutional funding due to its refusal to adhere to ethical standards, but was thereafter fully funded by HUGH HEFNER, founder of Playboy (who has considered it his life mission to abolish any and all moral boundaries on sexuality and sexual practice). The American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (AASECT) grew out of the Kinsey Institute, and now acts as the major certification body of sex therapists and educators in the US. In order to teach sex ed in American public schools, teachers must comply with the guidelines set out by AASECT, including their staunch disapproval of suggesting that ANY boundaries be placed around sexuality or sexual practice. This is not simply moral neutrality; this is a clear agenda to advance all sorts of sexually dangerous and immoral behavior (including, but of course not limited to, “consentual” sex between adults and children). I highly suggest that you read The Kinsey Corruption by Susan Brinkmann to gain a greater appreciation of this history. Today, the average kid in the average public school is learning not just about the maturation of their body, puberty, the physical mechanics of intercourse, and contraceptive methods, but they are being encouraged to experiment with their sexuality, and are given explicit ideas of how to do so “safely” (including, but not limited to, how to masturbate and how to give and receive oral and anal sex). When Sarah Palin opposed “explicit” sex education, THIS is what she’s talking about. While she does support abstinence education, I am not convinced that this would be the ONLY type of sex education that would be supported by McCain/Palin. As you can read, she is not opposed to contraception, but values the life of both the mother and the unborn baby, and so opposed abortion in all cases except when the mother’s life is in danger. It is clear to me that sex ed in public schools needs MAJOR reform, and I am personally not bothered by the rather extreme stance of Palin in this area.

He Said: And wants to reinstate the draft.

I Said:
On reinstating a military draft:
http://www.tooprogressive.com/2008/08/20/mccain-would-work-to-reinstate-a-military-draft/
(Where is the rest of McCain’s response?!)

Thoughts: Again, no evidence. Prove it to me.

He Said: Please, as I said, I would like to discuss this with you. Now what good do you see? I havent seen any, but thats because I dont watch CNN.

I Said: With all this being said, I am glad that you are taking this election so seriously and are challenging those who do not share your views. I am so thankful that we live in a country where we each get a vote, even if yours and mine cancel each other out.

P.S. I don't watch CNN either.

A Fresh Perspective

2008-09-06T12:16:00.000-07:00

Last night Matt, Abbie, and I were at the mall buying shoes for her. Real shoes! Big girl shoes! Size five shoes! (“Follow them size fives!”) By the time we were ready to leave, it had begun to rain as it does only in Kentucky; the rain was misty but heavy and would soak through whatever you were wearing in a matter of seconds. Although we weren’t parked too far away, the car was far enough away that we would definitely get very wet if we had to walk to it. So my gallant husband offered to pull the car up while Abbie and I waited outside under the entrance overhang. Now, I like the rain. I just don’t like being IN the rain. While we waited, I was trying to figure out the most efficient way to get Abbie out of the stroller, into the car, pack up the stroller, and get into the car myself while getting the least soaked. Then all of a sudden, I looked down and noticed that Abbie was leaning as far forward in her stroller as she possibly could, with the hugest smile on her face, reaching out trying to touch the rain drops that were falling off the roof. So I suppressed my paranoia about the dirty roof and dirty water, and pushed her stroller out into the rain. She was ecstatic! She giggled hysterically as the drops fell on her hands and arms and probably could have played in the pouring rain for a lot longer had Matt not pulled up a few seconds later. Left to my own devices, I wouldn’t have even considered enjoying the rainy night, but seeing Abbie’s enthusiasm gave me a fresh perspective. That’s one of the best parts of being a parent—getting to see old situations through my daughter’s new eyes.

One more week

2008-08-26T08:50:00.000-07:00

I have one more week of summer before classes start next Tuesday. As I think back on it, it's been a really good summer. I took two classes (4 more credits behindme--yay!), relaxed a lot, got to take two vacations to see family, and watched Abbie grow up sooo much. It's been so much fun watching her learn to stand on her own, stand up on her own (with toys in each hand for balance, of course!), and even start to walk! She's not a baby anymore--it's a little hard to accept. On the other hand, I am looking forward to having a new little baby in just a few months :-)

As much as I've loved this summer, I am really looking forward to starting classes next week. I'm taking Basic Christian Doctrines (Tuesday nights), which I'm expecting will give me a solid foundation in Wesleyan theology (a nice balance to my Calvinist college doctrines classes); Assessment Inventories in Counseling (Thursdays and Saturdays), and Crisis Counseling (Wednesday afternoons). I'm not that excited about Crisis, but Assessment sounds cool (in a nerdy way!). What I'm most looking forward to is the challenge of all this work during my last trimester of pregnancy. I think I can do it. I just hope Karis decides to wait until AFTER finals to be born!

Free stuff rocks!

2008-08-19T14:32:00.000-07:00

I've gotten some pretty awesome free stuff lately, and it totally rocks! First of all, a friend from church dog- and house-sat for us for the entire week Matt and I were in Jersey. For free! Horray for awesome friends!

Second, at Mother Nurture's 2nd anniversary celebration a few weekends ago, I won a super awesome door prize: 12 one-size Bum Genius cloth diapers! Considering that the best price I could find for this quantity of diapers was over $200.00, this is a HUGE blessing! Also, these diapers keep Abbie dry, which is great because she's had mild diaper rash for a few days due to her orange juice consumption.

Third, on my way home from WalMart today, I decided to stop by Fazoli's for a few breadsticks. The drive-thru guy said it would be a few minutes because they had just put some fresh bread in to bake (no prob!!!! Even better!). When they were finally ready, the guy said "They put some extras in there for ya." I checked and saw... two extra free breadsticks! Score!

sweet kisses

2008-08-07T16:18:00.000-07:00

Finally!

2008-07-10T07:22:00.000-07:00

I felt the baby move for the first time last night! Wahoo!

The way it should be

2008-07-09T17:35:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen one of these before?

Neither had I until last night during our first prenatal appointment when Candace pulled this fetoscope out of her bag of tricks! Doesn't it look like a torture device?! When the baby gets bigger she'll use this to listen to his/her movements. We listened to the baby's heartbeat with a Doppler again and not only did we hear the heartbeat--we heard the placenta and the blood rushing through the umbilical cord! Candace explained everything we were hearing, which I really appreciated. The cord blood and the heartbeat sound very different. The cord blood is a whoosh whoosh sound, but the heartbeat actually sounds like a beat. We even heard the baby kick a few times (although I couldn't feel anything yet)--this one is feisty! When the baby finally held still, the beat was about 168--higher than last time, but that may have been because s/he was getting a workout trying to dodge the Doppler for five minutes. Candace also measured my fundal height and I was right on for 17 weeks.

We sat and talked for about and hour and a half and the best part was that this was all in our living room! I was laying on our couch listening to our baby's heartbeat--it was so relaxed and awesome! I feel so pampered having such personalized and gentle care. No rude nurses, no hospital gown, no cold plastic exam table with crinkly liners with Ortho Evra ads printed all over--just our comfy living room. We both love Candace and are even more excited for this birth after such a great visit!

Goodnight, angel

2008-07-01T18:15:00.000-07:00

Good news on the midwife front!

2008-06-26T09:03:00.000-07:00

We've found our midwife! It was love at first meeting :-) Her name is Candace and she's a CPM who's been practicing in central KY for nine years. She came to our house for an interview yesterday morning and we talking for over an hour! Her major emphasis is on prenatal care and building a relationship with the family that will allow her to do a "hand-off" birth--we do what we need to do; she acts as our guide. She's experienced with waterbirth, which is definitely a possibily for me; every woman I've talked to who was able to labor/birth in water says it was a great experience and really helped them relax. So besides for liking everything she had to say, it felt right. She had a very calm, strong presence and both Matt and I felt really comfortable with her.

I am getting more and more excited about this birth! A couple from church just had their baby this past weekend and Matt and I got to visit them in the hospital on Monday night. Just being in the hospital (not to mention hearing about the pitocin, the epidural, etc. etc.) made me not want to have any babies in a hospital ever again! Being there, I remembered a very strange feeling I had during our postpartum hospital stay that Abbie didn't quite belong to us. All the rules about when we could have her in our room, not being able to walk with her through the halls...I seemed like she was only half ours until we were on our way home--and then the feeling was scary and overwhelming! I can only imagine how awesome it's going to be to be at home through the whole labor and birth, and to be able to really bond with this new baby right from the very beginning. I imagine the whole experience being calm and quiet and happy. I'm so excited to feel the feeling of labor again--the rush of breaking waters, the powerful force of the contractions, the relief of finally needing to push, the baby's head crowning and finally being born! And I can't wait to ACTUALLY feel all of that this time, un-numbed! I really wonder if normal contractions are anything like pitocin contractions (which is all I experienced last time)--my guess is that they will be completely different, probably a lot more pleasant.

By the way, I'm currently reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, which is really inspiring! Ina May Gaskin is a big name in the midwifery world (she was in The Business of Being Born, which I highly recommend!) and I really like most of what she has to say. She is so respectful of women's bodies and our ability to birth our babies, which of course, I can't get enough of!

As if he wasn't elitist enough already...

2008-06-23T19:41:00.000-07:00

Barack Obama claims that he's a man of the people, who can understand their struggles and hardships. Yet his pompus attitude and his patronizing comments (for example, of course, is his comment regarding Pennsylvanians "clinging to their guns and religion") have continued to shed a steady light on his true character throughout this campaign season.

I find it quite funny and ironic that Donatella Versace has dedicated her new spring fashion line to Obama, saying that he inspired her collection designed for "a relaxed man who doesn't need to flex muscles to show he has power." Now, the major group of the democratic party that was loyal to Hillary that Obama needs to win over are made up of white, middle class, working folks. People that have been flexing their muscles all their lives. People who have to work; who can't "relax" and wallow in their inherent "power." What does this fashion line say to them? Obama doesn't understand you--he's never worked a day in his life! Yet this line is supposed to be inspired by and honoring to him! I must admit, I'm enjoying the fact that such an honor might have such a negeative effect on his campaign!

Midwife limbo

2008-06-18T08:41:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is flying by. I'm already at 14.5 weeks and have had two midwife appointments already! The trouble is... Donna, our midwife, broke the news to us during our first meeting with her that she and her husband are planning on moving to South Carolina. In October. Our baby is due in December. So this is pretty bad news for us.

There are a few things you need to know about midwives. There are a few different kinds of certification. Here's agood briefing I found online:

Certified Nurse-Midwives (CNM)
Registered Nurses who have completed an additional 1-3 years of training. CNM's are required to work with a physician, they can obtain hospital privileges, and can write prescriptions. In most places, Certified Nurse Midwives attend both birth center and hospital births, in some areas they also do home births.

Certified Midwives (CM) or Certified Professional Midwives (CPM)
direct entry midwives (trained directly into midwifery without becoming a nurse first) who are certified by their state organization or through the North American Registry of Midwives. They receive their training through various methods such as appre nticeship, certifying programs or schools. Licensed Direct Entry Midwives (LDEM or LM) are Certified Midwives who have a state. They are licensed by a state board. CMs and LDEMs attend births at home. Licensing laws vary state by state.

CNM's, CPMs, LDEMs and CM's are required to pass comprehensive written and oral exams, to attend a required number of births, to have continuing education and peer review, and to practice by specific guidelines and protocols.

Direct Entry Midwives or Lay Midwives
receive their education primarily through apprenticeship with another midwife's practice or through informal schooling. Training and experience will vary among individuals. Some direct entry midwives choose not to get certified or licensed due to ph ilosophical beliefs. They attend births at home.

In Kentucky, the only midwives that can legally practice homebirths are CNM's. Unfortunately, there are a very limited number of CNM's who practice out-of-hospital, and one of them is Donna! :-( Because of this precarious situation, Matt and I have found outselves suddenly in midwife limbo. We are completely committed to planning a homebirth, so at this point it's a question of finding the right (preferably legal) midwife to work with rather than readjusting our hopes for this birth. I'm planning to call one CNM and one CPM today to set up interviews. My next prenatal appointment should be in a week and a half, and ideally I'd love to start seeing our new midwife as soon as possible.

Truthfully, I am pretty disappointed about Donna moving. She seemed to be the perfect midwife (albeit the semi-new agey stuff that I'm learning is usually inevitably linked to natural birth practices--this is so unfortunate; I wish more Christians would step up and reclaim the beautiful gift of birth that God gave us!!!); she was a CNM, had 6 years of hospital experience, had attended hundreds of homebirths, AND had attended several of my friends' homebirths. Plus, we really liked her! What a loss.

So that's where we find ourselves right now. I'll keep ya'll updated!

Family visits + new heartbeats

2008-06-05T12:06:00.000-07:00

My mom, sister, and two nephews came to visit us last weekend. It was so much fun to see Abbie playing with her cousins--who needs babysitters with cousins around?! They definitely entertained each other and wore each other out!

On Saturday we had Abbie's big birthday party. My aunt Diane and uncle Greg came down from Cinci with my cousin's oldest boy, Ashton. He and Isaiah (who is one year younger) had a blast together. Lots of families from church came, and Abbie got so many cute clothes and toys! I was really impressed with how well she held up the whole day. I still can't believe she's one year old!!!

Today Matt's parents left Jersey and will arrive tomorrow for a weekend visit. We're really excited to see them. They've been itching to come down here since my mother-in-law finished her chemo treatments a few months ago. My sister-in-law just had her third baby--a BOY! named Evan, so they've been helping out with the two older girls. I can't wait to meet Evan when we visit Jersey later this summer!

Speaking of new babies, we heard OUR new baby's heartbeat yesterday!! It took forever to find it, but when Donna finally did it was strong and steady :-) Probably in the 140's, which adds more weight to my feeling that it's a boy... :-) It was so cool to hear the heartbeat, especially since we knew what we were listening for this time! The baby is in the exact spot Abbie was at first too--low and on the right. Pretty cool :-)

We have to change midwives, since Donna is moving out of state in October. Boo. BUT, she is referring us to a lady who's good reputation precedes her--two of our friends had a home birth with her, and have nothing but good things to say! And she's a certified nurse-midwife (CNM), which means the whole deal will be legal. Which is a good thing :-) (KY hasn't legalized all midwives yet, which a lot of activist-types around this area have major problems with. I haven't gotten that immersed in the debate yet.) I'm feeling better and better about planning a home birth, while trying to stay realistic-positive and accept that if anything goes weirdly with the pregnancy, that we won't be having the baby at home. That's ok. We can only wait it out and hope for the best! It's nice to be a little out of control once in a while, especially for me.

A great, awesome, super exhausting day!

2008-05-26T17:22:00.000-07:00

Today was the first full day off Matt has had from UPS since he started working there in January (that wasn't sickness- or injury-related), so we wanted to make the most of it! So, as soon as we finally rolled out of bed (around 8:00), we got dressed, ate breakfast, I nursed Abbie, and we headed out to pick strawberries! There is a berry farm right here in Wilmore that opens for about three weeks early in the summer. Matt and I each picked a bucket-full in about 30 minutes, which was about 8 lbs of beautiful red berries! And they are absolutely delicious!

Then we came home, I got a shower, and we left the house again for the Children's Museum in Cincinatti. On the way we stopped at Craker Barrel :-) and Abbie and I took a short nap in the car. We got to the museum around 3:00 and had a blast! Here are some pictures from our afternoon:

Playing in a fountain

Show me the money!!!

Who's this museum for, again?

How is that ball floating?!

Birthday pics!!!

2008-05-21T08:34:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday, Abbie!!!

broccoli face

2008-05-19T18:34:00.001-07:00

Abbie has been getting more ambitious with finger foods in the last few days, and her obsessive love of broccoli has never been stronger:

"Mommy want some?"

It's pretty crazy to think that, at this time last year, Matt and I were hanging out in the labor room watching Erin Brockovitch and waiting for contractions to start (which never happened), pacing the halls and finally settling in to spend the night. I'm really glad I didn't know at this time last year that Abbie still wouldn't be born for another 25.5 hours!!!

Anticipation...

2008-05-16T14:39:00.000-07:00

ONLY 3 HOURS AND 30 MINUTES UNTIL

PRINCE CASPIAN!!!!!!!!!!!

Weekend wrap-up

2008-05-12T11:53:00.000-07:00

I had a really good weekend :-)

Friday: Matt and I went out to Olive Garden to celebrate his promotion, my new position, and our pregnancy (why not :-) I had shrimp and the first half of the meal was great! After I ate half my meal, however, I started feeling pregnant :-( I didn't throw up, thankfully (in fact, I haven't gotten that sick at all yet), but I definitely had to stop eating. But I certainly ate my fair share of garlic bread!

Saturday: Was our six year dating anniversary! It's pretty crazy to think that Matt and I have been together for six years...and that's not even counting the first time we dated in college! (Long story...) Also on Saturday night we all went over to hang out with our friends Ryan and Aura who have three really cute kids. Leah, the youngest, is 3 months old and makes Abbie look like a giant! We had a great dinner--Aura made pasta with asparagus along with a fabulous salad of spinach, strawberries, mandarin oranges, walnuts, and her homemade dressing. WOW. We had a really good time.

Sunday: My first Mother's Day! Matt made breakfast for me--waffles, bacon, coffee and orange juice. So yummy! Unfortunately, we woke up late and had to rush through breakfast to get to church on time. He and Abbie gave me cards (his was funny, hers was sweet) and a silver charm bracelet with two charms--two hearts for our marriage, and a pair of baby booties for Abbie :-) I love it! Matt did a very good job. Also, Matt took his online final Sunday night and now is COMPLETELY DONE with his semester!!! Wahoo!!! (I have one paper and one final left.)

We're looking forward this week to seeing Prince Caspian on Friday (OPENING!) night! I bought our tickets last week. We've been waiting for this movie for three years. To prepare for the big event Matt and I are reading the book this week. So exciting!

News!

2008-05-09T13:54:00.001-07:00

Lots has happened in the last week, so I thought I'd compile all our updates into one blog post:

Matt: Is now a part-time supervisor for UPS!!!!!!! This means more money (about twice the salary he was getting before!), more prestige, a much better work wardrobe, and more responsibility. He is psyched. As am I :-) To get promoted to supervisor after just 4 months of working as a loader is pretty phenomenal at UPS; the other supervisors were warning Matt that the paperwork might not go through until August. But he started yesterday! Unfortunately, UPS is very strict about the appearance of their management; Matt now has to wear his maroon UPS polo shirt, nice pants, nice shoes, and....... no beard. :-( Which is very sad. What's even more sad is that I didn't even get to say goodbye to my beloved beard! Matt called me on his way home from work and told me that he couldn't have started as supervisor yesterday without shaving...so he bought a Bic at a gas station and shaved in the bathroom :-( Ouch! I'm trying to be a big girl about it, but it's a big adjustment. For twice the money, though, it's definitely worth the sacrifice!

Me: I am now a research assistant!! I'm working with Dr. Virginia Todd Holeman, researching apology and repentance. Toddy's expertise has been in forgiveness research lately, and now she's turning her interests to the flip side. First I'll be reading a ton of articles on apology for a literature review which Toddy and I will write together and (hopefully) publish! During the summer we'll be designing two research studies and once they're approved by Asbury's board, we can start interviewing and collecting data in the fall. Needless to say, I am SO EXCITED about this opportunity!!!!

Abbie: Has started cruising!!! Her new favorite thing to do is stand in her pack-n-play and cruise around the perimeter while clinging on for dear life. She's also been pulling up on random objects around the living room. So she's getting dangerous now!

New Baby: Is growing fingers and toes while trying desperately to get rid of the protruding tail bone. We have also decided on names, but haven't decided whether or not to share them yet :-)

May 5th

2008-05-05T08:12:00.000-07:00

Today is my sister-in-law Jeannie's first wedding anniversary. Congratulations, Jeannie and Doc!!!! And this is how I looked last May 5th... only 15 days before Abbie was born :-)

Planning out my life

2008-05-03T10:23:00.000-07:00

Inevitably, at the most hectic time of every semester, I suddenly get inspired to cast off my worries about my multiple projects due during the next week, sit down with my academic catalog, and plan out the remainder of my life as a grad student. What can I say--I like lists :-) Lists and charts give me a sense of self-efficacy. When I look at a list, I get a reassured feeling that I can know what to expect--that life won't be completely random and haphazard.

I have taken on this task (yet again) this afternoon. I have planned out my course schedule for this summer (3 or 6 credits), this coming fall (9 credits), January (3 credits) and spring (9 credits), summer (7 credits) and fall 2009 (3 credit practicum and 2 credit course), and spring 2010 (3 credit practicum). Presumptuous? I think not :-) In fact, I'm very excited about the fact that I won't have a semester with more than three classes. I can handle that.

If my plan holds up, I will be graduating ATS in May, 2010. That's only two years from now!!! Granted, the program is only supposed to take 25 months...but that's assuming that the student can commit to overloaded semesters for 2 years straight. Obviously, that's not for me.

So now I'm feeling pretty confident and on-track. And now I can get back to finishing up my LAST TWO PROJECTS of the semester :-) Wahoo!

WHYYYYYY MEEEEEEEE??????

2008-04-24T17:13:00.000-07:00

I woke up yesterday morning scratching my neck. I don't know about anyone else, but sometimes I just feel itchy in the morning. But this way different. I scratched....and my neck just itched more! When I finally went to the bathroom to look in the mirror I was surprised--the whole right side of my neck was bumpy and red.

Just wonderful.

Oh well, I figured. It's just a morning thing--it will pass. BUT it didn't. In fact, it got worse and actually spread throughout the day! Pretty soon my whole neck, my ears, my cheeks, and my hands were red and bumpy.

Still, I give whatever this was the benefit of the doubt, and hope that it goes away. Again, it doesn't! By 11:00pm it's pretty much more than I can stand. So, I take a luck-warm bath with baking soda. It feels good while I'm in the tub, but the minute I get out it starts all over again.

Boo-hoo! I ended up using an ice pack on my face so that I could at least numb the worst parts.

I called my doctor bright and early this morning, and couldn't get an appointment until 4:30. Gah. When I FINALLY saw the doctor, he said almost immediately, "Oh yeah--that's contact dermatitis. Have you been outside recently?"

My dad used to get poison ivy like twice every summer when I was little. I remember being at church picnics and he'd be covered in pink calamine lotion and looking pretty funny. I never realized it was THIS bad--and this case is mild!

Being that I'm pregnant, of course the most conservative treatment is in store. No steroids for me, unfortunately :-(

So, that's my sad story. Pray that this passes soooooon!

Commercial Break

2008-04-14T20:37:00.000-07:00

(The following should be read in a 1940's radio announcer voice.)

BEEP BEEP-BEEP BEEP BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog reading to bring you an important message. Our very own Matthew D. Riley has recently announced the launch of his very own blog, which promises to be equally, if not more exciting and intriguing than any blog you have ever read before. We predict that in just a few months, Mr. Riley will become a household name. So don't delay. Hurry on over to http://rightfortherightreasons.blogspot.com/ today.

And now we return to your regularly scheduled reading...

My favorite part of being a mommy

2008-04-14T09:05:00.001-07:00

During the past week or so Abbie has been waking up really upset about once per night. Out of nowhere she'll scream out and not be able to calm herself down. From what I've read, this is a symptom of separation anxiety; she wakes up in her room all alone, gets freaked out, and needs Mommy or Daddy to help her get control of her overwhelming emotions.

This scenario played itself out, once again, this morning around 3:00am. At first Matt got up to comfort Abbie while I dashed to the bathroom. But the cries kept coming. (Usually Matt can calm her down so she can go back to sleep...but not last night.) So I decided to go in and give it a go. I scooped up my little baby (who had stopped crying, but was doing the uncontrolled spastic sniffling that inevitably leads back to sobbing), pressed play to re-start her favorite sleepy time CD, and sat down on the glider. I tucked her as close to me as I possibly could and we started to play with our hands--clapping, waving... and she started to calm down. Then the most precious thing happened. She grabbed onto my fingers with both her hands and just clung on for dear life. We stayed like that for a long time. I loved holding her so close to me, feeling her soft baby skin against my cheek. She was so quiet, so still. All she needed was to know that Mommy was there. What an awesome privilege! When her eyes finally got droopy and she started to squirm, I knew she was ready to lay back down in her crib. I tucked her in, kissed her good night, and didn't hear another peep. Moments like that are my favorite part of being a mommy :-)

Big news!

2008-04-09T12:57:00.000-07:00

Matt and I found out today officially (we pretty much already knew) that we are pregnant again!! I'm so excited; mostly because this is exactly according to plan--how many times in life can anyone say that?! About a month after Abbie was born, we decided that we wanted to try to have our kids about 18 months apart, so that would mean getting pregnant in March. And we did! It's hard to believe that both times we've wanted to get pregnant we have done so successfully, AND we've avoided pregnancy when we didn't want to get pregnant--and we did it all with a natural method! This only confirms even more to me that NFP is the best method of planning/avoiding pregnancy (I don't like to think of it as birth "control") for us, and I would totally recommend it to anyone else who is less than satisfied with hormonal or barrier methods (like we were before going natural).

How did I get on a tangent about NFP?! Oh well :-) Horray for new baby!

Some things should just remain unsaid (regardless of senility)!

2008-04-06T08:56:00.000-07:00

I wore a dress to church this morning. I hardly ever wear dresses to church, mostly because I own hardly any dresses to wear to church. But today I pulled out a cute new dress from my closet that I bought a few months ago, thinking that it would be a good, sunny day to debut it! It's brown, pink and cream with a hippy flower pattern; it has an empire waist line, little cap sleeves, and goes down to about my knees. Very cute. Very appropriate for church. To top off this nice little look, I wore a pink and brown necklace and matching earrings, and with my fun, bouncy, newly-permed hair (which I actually styled this morning), I'd say I was lookin pretty good. Stacey and Clinton would be proud.

That is, until I made the mistake of lingering at the sugar and creamer station during coffee hour which just happened to be where Levan was also lingering. I was in a rush; "Dump some creamer into my coffee, stir in some sugar, and I can get out of here and put the screaming baby down for a nap," I thought inncocently to myself. Then out of the corner of my eye I notice Levan inching over to where I'm gussying-up my cuppa joe. Now, Levan is a nice old man. He was a Methodist pastor for a thousand years, is now retired, is a faithfully attending member of our church, leads prayer ministries for the elderly people, and makes a point of shaking hands with at least 75% of the congregation before the service starts every Sunday. So, naturally, I was expecting somethinig funny or even mildly flattering to emerge from his mouth.

Instead, with a twinkle in his eye he asks me, "Are you gaining weight?"

....uh......How do I handle this gracefully?????

Me: "Um, I hope not! (?!!!) Are you asking if I'm pregnant?"

Levan: "Well, are you?"

Me: "Umm....maybe? We don't know yet."

Levan: "Have you looked yet? Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?"

Me: "No; we're not sure that we're pregnant yet."

Now, granted, Matt and I are currently trying for a second baby (well, not CURRENTLY; I'm sitting at my laptop typing right NOW.... :-) but we haven't exactly make this public knowledge. And I'm sure that Levan's intentions were pure. After all, he doted over me when I was pregnant with Abbie. But all I heard was "You're obviously wearing a maternity dress. You look huge. In fact, you look big enough to be half-way through your pregnancy already! Or maybe you're just getting fat!"

So apparently my cute little sundress makes me look like a whale. I don't think I'll be wearing it again until I AM really pregnant. As for Levan, well, you can only blame so much rudeness on being old...

Thai massage parlors

2008-04-04T09:15:00.000-07:00

I had a great experience this morning. For my birthday Matt gave me a gift certificate for an hour-long Swedish massage at the small massage parlor in Wilmore, and today I went! I loved the heated table, the sandalwood massage oil, the relaxing music and candles, and I LOVED the face and scalp massage especially! Oh, it was just wonderful. AND when I got home, Matt had washed all the dishes (my job) so the relaxing experience could just go on and on! Ahhhhhh what a great morning.

During my massage, I was thinking about the only other time I've experienced a massage...which was a much weirder situation. I was 17, staying in Bangkok [alone] for a few days before moving up to Khon Kaen for the summer. For those few days my home was the Alliance Guest House, where several other random travellers and missionaries were in-and-out. Over breakfast one morning I met a guy (who's name has escaped me) who was stopping over in Bangkok on his way from India to Sri Lanka, where he would be working as a missionary in an orphanage for the next few years. Somehow the group conversation turned to Thai massage, which everyone raved about. Unknown name guy said he wanted to get a Thai massage before leaving for Sri Lanka, but was apprehensive about the shady nature of most massage parlors in Bangkok (if you don't know, Thai massage parlors = brothels, especially when white Western men show up alone!), so would I mind going along with him? I though, "Huh! That would be cool!" so went along without another thought. (Good Lord, so many red flags go up in my head as I'm re-telling this story!!!) Once we got to a reputable-looking parlor, we went in and were met by two women--a young Thai girl, and an old, rather scary-looking woman. They set us up on two side-by-side mattresses on the floor, fully clothed, and, well, gave us massages! The old woman did mine, and it was actually pretty painful. (Thai massage is a mix of blood-displacement and yoga, and doesn't have very much to do with muscle kneading.) At the end the old woman contorted my body into some really strange yoga positions and all I remember is feeling like a beached whale, an embarrassment which was only exacerbated by the fact that I was right next to a relatively complete stranger. After the massage was all done, unknown name guy and I were both given bowls of fresh pineapple which was, by far, the best part of the experience. Then we paid (about $5 for a half hour) and were on our way! Well, actually, unknown name guy was on HIS way--he had to leave and catch a plane, so I was faced with the challenge of shopping (er...finding....) my way back to the guest house by myself. All in all, it was a very weird experience and I should probably by very thankful that I got through it unscathed!

Dumb dog + organic farm

2008-04-02T12:25:00.000-07:00

Our dog Lucy has had four ear inner-ear infections in the last year. That works out to about one every 3 months. Treatment for these recurring infections (vet visits, drops, antibiotics, cortizone shots, maintenance ear cleaner) is way more than our dwindling budget can handle! After her last ear infection (about a month ago), our vet gave us two options: since it seems to be an underlying yeast problem that keeps getting triggered by something in the environment, we can 1) clean her ears once a week and give her maintenance ear drops twice a week, or 2) switch her to a hypo-allergenic diet (cutting out all treats, table scraps, etc.) for 8 weeks to see if she's allergic to something in her food. After doing option #1 for a month (and having a dog with constant chemical-ears around our grabby baby) we decided to start Lucy on the special diet.

Get this--for the next two weeks, Lucy will be eating a gourmet meal of KANGAROO MEAT every day!

...dumb old dog.

(Yes, this is Lucy pretending to be a gopher).

In other news, Matt and I discovered an organic farm right here in Jessamine county! We're buying a share of the farm (that is run by three families) and will be getting weekly boxes of seasonal produce, herbs, and fresh-cut flowers! And when the weather warms up we can visit the farm, too. I am SO EXCITED! It doesn't get better than this--supporting local business AND buying organic veggies for CHEAP! I feel like we discovered a gold mine!

A day in the life, March 31, 2008

2008-03-31T17:46:00.000-07:00

My alarm goes off at 7:30 as usual, and, as usual, I press snooze every 5 minutes for an hour. At 8:30, Abbie wakes up; Matt changes her diaper, I nurse her, and then I get her half-dressed while Matt gets breakfast ready. Because her tummy was already pretty full from nursing, Abbie only ate a few bites of her pears. Cinnamon Pecan Special K for me and off-brand Raisin Bran with an organic apple for Matt. Our neighbor's trees are blooming!

After breakfast, I get Abbie ready to go to story time at the Jessamine County public library. At 9:47, they’re off (through the pouring rain)!

In the meantime, I clear the breakfast dishes under the brand new facet that Matt put in yesterday—Look! No duct tape! No leaking!!! And for the first time in three years, we finally have a working sprayer!

Get Matt’s very healthy lunch together (chicken, cheese, broccoli, carrots, strawberries, bananna, and yogurt):

Make coffee, so that I can resist the temptation to buy a latte at the library. Unfortunately, I didn’t rinse the travel mug well enough and my coffee tastes like Shaklee dish soap. Blah—although I must admit I did consider drinking it anyway.

At 10:20, after packing the diaper bag, I’m finally ready to go.

I get to the library hoping to have time to read for my class, but only end up reading about a page and a half before story time ends. While Matt gets our card stamped (we get a stamp every time we go to storytime, and after accumulating 5 stamps we can get a free book. We’ve already got 4 stamps!) I sit with Abbie while she enjoys how her loud voice sounds in the echoey hallway. We head home. At 11:30 I change Abbie’s diaper and outfit, nurse her, and put her down for a nap. Ahhhhh J Mommy time! I check Facebook, watch the beginning of What Not to Wear, and finally buckle down to do some reading. Abbie usually sleeps for 2.5-3 hours, so I am pretty annoyed when I hear her stirring, then talking, then crying beginning at 12:30! At 1:00 I get her up and get lunch ready.

Butternut squash, peas, mango and nectarine for her; chicken tortilla soup (i.e. bliss in a bowl) and a strawberry shake for me. Yum! I decide that an afternoon of playing in the living room isn’t a very exciting proposition, so at 2:00 I pack Abbie and her stuff into the car and head to Mother Nurture in Lexington to fetch a few large diaper covers, since hers have been leaking with the bigger diapers we bought earlier this month.

Success! 6 brand spanking new diaper covers are ours! We get home around 3:30 and due to much eye-rubbing on the way home, I nurse Abbie again and attempt to put her down for another nap. To no avail. I hear her rustling around in her crib for about 45 minutes, while I read a little more for class. When I finally go in to retrieve her, I find Abbie grinning and THIS in her crib:

I have no idea where this tag came from, or how she got her mitts on it, but nevertheless, there it was, half-eaten by my paper-eating monster! At least I know she got her daily allowance of fiber! And why she was so quiet for 45 minutes…

Matt gets home at 5:30. Horray!! While I get dinner ready (breaded pork chops, baked potatoes and green beans) and wash dishes, Matt plays with Abbie and then gets a shower. I’ve invited our friend Carrie, who is husband- and child-free this week over for dinner, so we enjoy a great dinner and conversation. Abbie gets acorn squash, broccoli, and applesauce for dinner.

After we finish eating (around 7:45) I give Abbie a bath, Matt changes her into her pj’s, I nurse her, and finally put her to bed at 8:00.

Carrie hangs out for a little while longer, then Matt and I cap off the evening with (even more) reading for class.

All in all, it was a very good day.

My own limitations

2008-03-28T11:21:00.000-07:00

Right from the start, let me apologize for anything in this post that may be in any way offensive to anyone reading it. I don’t mean to offend, but I also don’t plan to censor my thoughts on this topic.

I’ve been volunteering at Step by Step, a ministry to pregnant teens and young single moms located in Lexington for about 7 months now. When I began with Step by Step at the beginning of September, I was so excited about the opportunity. I knew it would be hard work, and I knew I wouldn’t just “fit in” right away. I expected to be snubbed for a few months or maybe the whole year—just because I was going to be a new face and would need to prove my trustworthiness before I could enter into any real relationships with the girls. I certainly didn’t expect a cake walk, but I was committed. I didn’t know for sure that this was the population I was best suited to work with during and after grad school, but I was more than willing to give it a shot. So I took the plunge: I signed up to faithfully attend the bi-monthly meetings and co-lead a support group for the entire year (September-May)—I figured, if I’m really going to give this a shot, I’m not going to do a half-assed job.

In conjunction with the directors of Step by Step, my co-leader (who is actually THE leader of our support group; I’m there as sort of an observer/apprentice) chose to use the book Love and Respect as the main topic around which the support group would revolve. This topic was my second choice (after a group named “The Naked Truth,” which would discuss issues of sexuality, abstinence, and relationships) but as a new volunteer, I just went with my assignment.

Our support group was pretty full (4 or 5 girls) for the first two or three meetings. Girls came and went, trying to decide which group they would stick with. Of course, we hoped they would pick our group! But after the first few meetings, I had a feeling that the message of Love and Respect was not exactly applicable to young single moms. For those of you who’ve never read the book, let me give you a brief synopsis. The author’s main argument is that, according to Scripture, a man’s basic need is for respect, while a woman’s basic need is for love. In order to have a healthy marriage, then, women need to learn to unconditionally respect their husbands, and husbands must unconditionally respect their wives. The author falls just short of guaranteeing this ideal as fool-proof, and urges readers to implement his advice regardless of their spouses’ actions.

Now, I find nothing intrinsically wrong with the author’s viewpoint. In my opinion, a marriage cannot have too much love or respect, regardless of who is giving or receiving either. However, the assumptions of the book make translation and contextualization very difficult. First of all, the author assumes that not only are the readers Christians, but also that they value the covenant of marriage. Other assumptions (that are not so blatant) include a middle-class upbringing, the ability to envision future possibilities that differ from current realities, and…here’s the kicker… that the readers are white, or at least embrace the ideals of white middle-class America. Now, the average Step by Step girl has pretty much nothing in common with this picture of Eggerichs’ reader. She is very young, has at least one child (in most cases, she has at least two), has grown up in an impoverished, unstable and “mixed” family, relies heavily on welfare and other government programs to stay afloat, and is not white (or at least, not middle-class suburban white). She views marriage as a lofty ideal but will settle for a cheap engagement ring from her live-in boyfriend who sleeps around and impregnates several other women and refuses to change his behavior. She expects her life to look like what she’s always experienced.

When I leave the meeting, I get into my 2000 Honda which I own, have enough money for gas, and can legally drive because my out-of-state license hasn’t been retracted due to my minority race. I can drive home safely because I can read road signs and know what they symbolize. I know what will be happening when I arrive back at my house—which I own--in Wilmore: my healthy daughter will be comfortably asleep in her own room because my husband, who has stayed home with her the whole evening, will have changed her diaper and clothes, and will have put her to bed like every other night. When I open the front door, I know that the living room will be clean (because my husband will have picked up the toys, as he said he would), and will be sitting on our couch finishing his mid-term exam. If I feel hungry, I can grab something from the ample supply of food in our working refrigerator. If I want to check my email or watch tv, I know I can because no one will have turned of my cable. When I’m tired, I will go to bed with my husband from whom I am not worried about catching a sexually transmitted disease.

I am a white, married, middle-class American Christian woman and this is my life. And the average Step-by-Step girl has nothing in common with my experience of driving home to Wilmore.

To be honest, I can’t imagine life any other way. Yet, after working with single teen moms for only 7 months, I am completely exhausted. Their stories weigh down my heart. Their chaotic lives baffle me, and I worry about their children. Their habitual bad lifestyle choices anger me. I can’t wrap my mind around their second and third unplanned pregnancies. I don’t understand why they can’t get their lives together. But then I have to stop. What would it look like for young woman living in the inner city, stuck in poverty despite her education and motivation to work, to “get her life together?” Don’t I expect her to leave the city (and everything she’s ever known), buy a car, move into a clean apartment in the suburbs and begin attending a middle-class church? Why in the world would she ever want MY life? Yet how can she ever affect change in her own life unless she’s willing to take some serious risks?

To be honest, I feel very limited by my own station in life. It’s not just that I’m white. It’s that my vision of a healthy, normal, good life, has very very little in common with that of the average Step-by-Step girl. And to be honest, I’m not sure that I’m cut out for this kind of ministry. I used to believe that the ability to relate to another’s experience and values should not be a pre-requisite to ministering with a given population. And even now, I believe that I can minister to and effectively help most people, regardless of whether or not our experiences and values line up. But the truth is that the Step-by-Step girls can’t relate to ME, and therefore my ability to effectively minister to them is severely limited. I am the one put in the box. I am the one who can’t understand how life is for them, and so I am written off.

To be honest, this makes me really sad. I see a need that I cannot meet, even with God’s help. Should I stick with the ministry, hoping that time and shared experiences at the meetings will assist me in building relationships? Should I accept this experience for what it was, be thankful for what I’ve learned, and move on, using my energy and gifts in another capacity? If I stay, will I be motivated by a vain belief that I can build bridges and be used of God no matter where I am? If I leave, will I be giving up because “my need” to minister hasn’t been met at Step-by-Step? I hope not. I pray that God will give me a true and honest perspective of my capabilities and fitness to minister at Step-by-Step, staying if He impresses upon me to do so, or leaving for the same reason.

Easter in Canterbury

2008-03-22T20:29:00.000-07:00

Exactly four years ago at this moment (5:30am, GST) I was on a charter bus crossing the English countryside to celebrate Easter morning in Canterbury and hear Archbishop Rowan Williams preach. I would have slept in and missed the bus if my wonderful fiance hadn't called to wake me up (a deed for which I am forever grateful!!). I attended morning vespers, communion, and finally the Easter Sunday service. It was fantastic. Not only did I get to hear Archbishop Williams preach and shake his hand while gushing about my love for his writings (I read several of his books and essays for different classes in Oxford), but I also got to meet and speak with Sister Benedicta Ward, who is a scholar and who has translated the work of the ancient Desert Fathers, giving English speaking Christians access to this part of our rich tradition. It was so powerful to worship with these siblings in Christ in Canterbury, the heart of Anglicanism and the center from which Christianity spread to England in the first century. It was an experience like no other and was definitely one of my favorite memories of living in England!

Easter pictures!!!!

2008-03-22T09:57:00.000-07:00

No cheese, please!

2008-03-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

Last month, Abbie tried cottage cheese for the first time. Of course, she wasn't thrilled with the taste (who is, really?), so I had the brilliant idea of mixing it with applesauce. THIS she liked. In fact, she downed probably three tablespoons of the mix. That was around 2pm.

Around 4pm she started to get fussy, so I decided to nurse her and put her down for a nap. I nursed her...and then all the milk came back up! A few minutes later, more! A few minutes later, even more! She kept throwing up for about an hour, at which point she started becoming frighteningly lethargic and losing her color. So Matt and I rushed her to the doctor, who said, to our surprise, that it looked like food poisoning to him. Scary! But I had had some cottage cheese too, and nothing happened to me. The whole thing was rather strange.

So yesterday afternoon I decided to try some normal, shredded mozzarella cheese with Abbie. Who knows! A month had passed, so she might be up for the challenge.

She probably ate about three shreds of cheese, and wasn't too happy about it. Oh well--I tried. After lunch we went shopping and she had no complaints. However, around 5pm, half-way through nursing she started to cry. Not the normal "I'm tired" cry--this was the "Mommy, my tummy hurts" cry. So I knew it was just a matter of time before the throwing up would begin. Sure enough, about 15 minutes later it happened. Thankfully, this time wasn't as bad and she bounced right back after about two hours of being sick.

All this to say, we apparently have a lactose intolerant kid on our hands. At least for now; I've heard kids can grow out of such allergies. But when? Nausea and vomiting are pretty severe reactions for having eaten such a little bit of dairy! I don't really want to risk it again anytime soon. anyone have any thoughts? Advice? Commiserations?

A note for my girl friends

2008-03-13T18:34:00.000-07:00

I stumbled onto something really cool that's a healthier and more environmentally responsible way to handle my period. I've been using The Diva Cup for three (postpartum) months now and have absolutely no complaints! I highly recommend it--you should check it out! Just think of all the landfill space (and money!!!) we could save if we all used this instead!

What a mighty good man!

2008-03-10T09:16:00.001-07:00

My wonderful husband took Abbie to story time at the library this morning--one of the very few dads who accompany their kids! In the meantime, I got to sit in the lobby, enjoy a cappuccino and catch up on some reading. What a great morning! Mornings like this make me so thankful for two reasons-- first, that Matt doesn't have to go to work until noon, and second, that my daughter has such a loving daddy.

Best birthday ever

2008-03-09T19:05:00.000-07:00

I turned 25 last Sunday. It was a pretty big milestone for me--I am officially "mid-twenties," which comes as something of a shock, because I passed from being a teenager into a twenty-something without much fanfare. College ended, marriage started, a baby came, and now BOOM! I'm mid-twenties. In many ways, I still feel like a late teen. I'm not sure what being 25 (or 28 or 32 for that matter) is supposed to feel like! Am I supposed to start dressing differently? Am I supposed to have certain things checked off my life list by now? How do I know what those things are? But anyway, the glaring lack of appropriate rites of passage in our culture is not my present concern. :-)

Matt threw me a birthday party yesterday. Two of our friends hosted it at their house, and a bunch of our friends from church came and brought really good food. Then we just hung out, played games, and talked the whole evening. It was so much fun. I usually don't like being the center of attention--at least for no longer than it takes me to make a pun or tell a quick story. But I felt very loved at the party. It was just a bunch of friends hanging out.

AND I got some really cool presents this year. The most spectacular gift was from Matt. He gave me a gift certificate for an HOUR LONG massage. I still have yet to schedule an appointment. I may save it for mid-terms in a few weeks. Another wonderful...well, not gift, but investment we chose to make, was an elliptical for me (which Matt is currently assembling). This is something I've wanted for years. The only way I can "run" or get a good cardio workout, and now that Abbie naps during my prime work out time, it has been next to impossible to get to the gym to use their elliptical. I'm excited about being able to work out at home now!

So all in all, a spectacular birthday. I'm anticipating a very good 26th year.

9 month check-up

2008-03-04T09:10:00.000-08:00

Abbie had her 9 month check-up this morning. She weighed 22 lbs., 2 oz. (93rd percentile), and 28.5 inches (87th percentile). The doctor was happy with her growth, her fine motor skills, and her babbling. He was a bit concerned about her gross motor skills, as she hasn't begun sitting up by herself or pulling herself to standing. Just this past week she started to lift up to hands and knees and scoot backwards. Also, when she stands, she stands on her tiptoes, which might indicate excessive tightness in her leg and hip muscles. He says that if that continues, we'll need to get her a physical therapist. But for now he just wants to give her some time, which makes sense to us. Some good news--her supernumerary nipple is fading! I'm very gald about that :-) She also got 4 shots, and since she has so many teeth, I didn't want to run the risk of her biting me if I nursed her during the ordeal. So we just held her, and it was definitely traumatic. Poor kid. But by the time we got home (which was only a 3 minute drive), she was smiling again. And now she's taking a very peaceful nap. It's so hard to believe that the next time she sees Dr. Coburn (hopefully--unless she gets sick!) she will be one year old!

Considering Homebirth (part 2)

2008-02-22T09:32:00.001-08:00

I went to a screening of The Business of Being Born in Lexington this week. Going into it, I was afraid that it would be total propoganda, a Michael Moore-ish approach to documenting birth in America. However, I was pleasantly surpirsed! They did a great job of presenting homebirth and intervention-free (natural) birth as options for women with healthy, low-risk pregnancies without relying on scare tactics to get their point across.

The documentary is being released directly to Netflix at the end of February. I'd encourage ya'll to order it, watch it, and let me know what you think. But be warned--there are several uncensored birth scenes, so be prepared. It's definitely worth watching!

Also, Matt and I are meeting with our potential midwife next week! I actually got to meet her at the screening, and she seems really nice (albiet from Jersey...). We'll see how she does with our barrage of questions!

Also, this Monthy Python clip is REALLY funny :-)