The A-Team

Well, stage 2 of the boys’ room is complete. I actually finished this a few days back and have been SLOWLY working on stage 3. Anyway, here is a peek!

Abraham was being quite a HAM when Daddy got out the camera to take pictures for me. I thought this was quite hilarious…Abraham was squinting at  the mere thought of the flash going off but he was smiling! It was too funny:) He loves to play in his new room with mommy and daddy. He is such a little helper with moving your painting supplies and hiding other miscellaneous items that you didn’t know you needed until they are gone. Anyway, I will hopefully complete stage 3 on Wednesday. I have 2 walls to go and the texturing is all BY HAND so it takes some time. So far we think it looks pretty cool.

No not me! Abraham was doing some modeling for us:) Aaron’s parents had given us some clothes from when Aaron was around 18 months. I finally had the chance to get Abraham into the clothes only to realize that Abraham is MUCH bigger than daddy was! We have pictures of Aaron wearing these clothes just fine at 18 months and the other shot I think he was a bit older. Poor Hammy. He takes after his mama (big for his age). His little belly stuck out from under the white sweater and the other sweater just barely fit. I have said it before and I will say it again, I grow big babies! Abraham had 2 pounds on his pop at birth! Enjoy the pictures:)

He was quite a trooper!

This little guy grabbed his sheet and put it over his head and came out to get his daddy. It was so adorable! I missed it all but fortunately daddy got it all on camera!

Last week when I was making my daily visit to Woot I saw a side ad for their other site “Shirt.Woot” and my curiosity got the better of me. Their top shirt for the day was called “The Binge” and had a tiny little thumbnail of the picture below. I thought, “could it be a Cookie Monster shirt? Naw”. Upon clicking on it and zooming in, it definitely was a spoof on Cookie Monster who’d binged on too much milk and cookies and wasn’t feeling so well:

Of course with Abraham’s affinity towards all things Cookie Monster, as well as my own, we had to have this shirt. We purchased their smallest size, K4, which is supposed to be similar to a size 4T, but as you can see below Ham will be outgrowing this shirt well before he’s in 4T clothes! He loves the shirt, although he can’t really tell it is Cookie Monster with the lack of googly eyes and all. Enjoy!

After 3 visits back to the church nursery, Abraham and I both have the sniffles. Poor little dude has it a bit worse than I for now. I seriously hope I don’t get really sick.

I know this is Satan ripping us away from the church because now we won’t be able to go this Sunday because we won’t be “those parents” (you know those parents that still take their sick kids to church and put them in the nursery to infect everyone else). And we most likely won’t return to church until after the weather changes because we can’t afford to be sick; not just financially, but emotionally and physically! It really drains all of us when we have an illness. What kills me is that I do not keep my son in a bubble. We go out to the store and he interacts with other people (mom’s group functions) and it is not like my house is perfectly germ free. But yet, the minute we go to church, we get sick.

We have such disdain for illness that we will change our lives to avoid it and that stinks. But I guess that is the life we have now with kids. Maybe once the last one turns 5 this won’t be such an issue anymore!!!

Sorry for the third post of the night but this is important! I have been on the hunt for a double stroller that would fit our needs.

1. Had to fit in the trunk of the mini (camry).

2. Had to allow the baby to be at the back of the stroller or to the side of Abraham because Abraham likes to look around at where we are going!

3. Had to have a 5-point harness – tried a 3-point and he will soon escape.

4. Lastly, had to hold a car seat. I refuse to NOT go walking just because I can’t take my baby with us. I plan to get out as much as possible and I will be taking Abraham to the park a bunch to burn off this winter cooped up energy!

Well, I have finally found the solution! After months and months of researching and looking and trying out strollers, one finally rose to the top. The final test was making sure it would actually FIT in the mini. It did!!!! Combi makes an awesome side by side double stroller that accommodates their car seat! And the other totally awesome benefit of this new car seat is that it will be 8 inches shorter (yes 8 entire inches) than the other car seat we have. Since our car is so little and we have 2 kids and 2 adults that have to fit into this car, we needed a car seat that will allow for everyone to fit. Abraham out grew his first car seat by his 6th month but I left him in it as long as possible. By month 7, we had to replace it. His new “convertible” car seat is TOTALLY awesome but is a beast when rear-facing. I had to sit in the back of the car with Abraham until we turned him around. I won’t be able to do that with Abel. So, the hunt was on. I did locate a used Graco Safe Seat that accommodates a baby rear-facing up to 30 lbs and 29 inches. It does fit in the car but it is still big and the passenger will be squished in the dash. This new car seat will allow for an additional 8 inches of space for the passenger AND accommodate a baby up to 33 pounds and 33 inches!!!! I am so stoked! This will work fantastically! Of course there is always a downside and this happens to be price. But as I said, the Lord will provide if this is what we should do! Anyway, just had to share my happy news:)

This was short and sweet and everything went well! I am measuring a bit big but nothing to be worried about. This kid is going to be big like Abraham, I just know it. Aaron has guessed 8 lbs 11 oz…I just know over 8 lbs somewhere. I did have my “big” weight gain month. I had one of these with Abraham. I put on 5 lbs in one month and that is what happened again. I now am officially 6 pounds up from the beginning. Hopefully I won’t put much more on since I only gained 9 pounds with Abraham and I would like to do the same with this one.

I started freaking out after we got home and I started charting my future appointments. I have one more “monthly” appointment and then we are at the “2-week” appointments. I can’t believe they are here! I still have lots to do and stuff! AAAAAHHHHH! I feel better now. It will be okay:) God will provide!

On another note, I finished the 2nd coat of paint for the bottom half of the boys’ room and we got curtains today! They are awesome!!! Of course we can’t put them up until I get the rest of the room done but I have them in my possession!

Tomorrow, I shall attack the green section of the room!

This post is directed to a couple of people in particular (I hope you know who you are). I have nothing to say but THANK YOU. Even those words are so meek compared to what I feel right now. Allow me to explain…

For those of you who know me, I have not always been a believer. Actually, I was quite the opposite and VERY stubborn about my non-belief. I might have even been rude or mean to believers at one time (I most certainly hope not but I don’t remember much of those days).

Anyway, I came to know Christ as my Lord and Savior in 2002 and publicly declared my faith in 2003 with a baptism. I have grown so much over the years and am amazed at what God has done, is doing and is going to do in my life. I am so thankful that I had one friend, in particular, who stuck by my side while I was a non-believer and helped me accept my salvation. I will forever be indebted. She took on countless questions and pokes and proddings. She may not have always known the answer but was always willing to find out and get back to me. She never failed me. She ALWAYS got back to me. Anyway, I look back and never realized how much that meant to me. Had she not taken the time to be my friend and care about my salvation…I might still be on the road to hell. I am still a sinner but I know that my salvation is secure. I do my best to live a life that is Christ-like but I fall short many times a day. But you know what? That is okay. Christ died for my sins and knows my true heart. As long as I continue to strive to live righteously, I am following Him the best I can.

So, the point to my story…the reason for this post. Well, tonight I met someone who is just as I was. She proudly declares her husband’s atheism and she is agnostic. Both were raised with God but too many “rules” got in the way of the message. I was taken aback by her brazen declaration after my causal comment of how God had changed my life and now I have children (for those that know me, know that I NEVER wanted kids – again, this was BEFORE God). Anyway, I did the best I could at sharing the basics of the Gospel. Christ is God, became human, lived a perfect life, died for our sins, was resurrected and now sits in Heaven. This is a free gift with no strings attached. Forget all the “humanism” that is brought into religion (working on the Sabbath, no drinking, no swearing, no this or that). Simple faith that Christ died for your sins is the entire message. Everything else will fall into place. Even though I am saved, I am still a sinner. I mess up every day because I still allow my flesh to rule. That’s okay. God will forgive. Turns out her husband is ACTUALLY agnostic and just doesn’t know the difference even though I tried to explain the difference, it just fell on deaf ears. So I stopped that approach and went with my real life experience (something I know quite well). I explained my previous life without Christ and how much things have changed for me. No I don’t have money coming out my ears, no I don’t live in a palace, no I don’t have fancy things, no life isn’t easy. That is not the point of being a Christian. My soul is saved and that is all that matters. Heaven awaits me and I want everyone to be there with me. It was so weird being exposed to such a staunch non-believer. I was so uncomfortable and I really didn’t know how to continue the conversation without sounding preachy or weird so it just kinda fizzled out. The whole reason this is kind of a big deal is that I was hoping to use her 12-year-old daughter as a babysitter for Abraham. I am so torn and frustrated. I want to use this little girl and show the light of Christ to her and maybe she can be a light for her family. The downside is I do not want a non-believer to be in my house. Not that all believers are trustworthy but I do put them a tad bit higher on the totem pole of trust. Plus, if Abraham and her are going to be together, I need her to follow our routine. That will include a Bible story and prayer time before bed.  The mom says this will be no problem but is this Satan trying to infiltrate my home or is this God giving me a taste of my own medicine? Anyway, it was one of the weirdest and most uncomfortable times I have ever had since becoming a believer. I am glad it has taken THIS long before I encountered something like this. My faith isn’t shaken but I have deep regret for the way I was but am thankful for those around me who never stopped praying for my salvation. I will definitely add this family to my prayer list, but I need God’s guidance on what to do about the babysitting. God is good and will provide an answer for me:) Thanks for listening and know that I thank you (you know who you are) very much for helping me accept my salvation.

Good Lord. It is really here. We are just one month away from Abraham’s 18-month birthday! I can barely believe it! He has changed so much and it is so much fun to be his mommy (even on days when it’s not!).

Abraham is so smart. I am sure everyone says that about their kids, but wow. He astounds us daily. He knows SO many animals names and the sounds they make and he now WANTS to answer your questions. Like, what does a dog say? He will reply “woof.” It is simply awesome! He picks up a new word just about every day if not multiple words. We were completely shocked the other night when he started repeating “boog” (which is the nickname for one of our dogs). Aaron tested him and he pointed to the correct dog! Then when asked to go pet Arky, he went to the other dog! Unreal. We have not worked with him on their names at all! It was amazing. He is not quite to parrot stage but I am sure it is right around the corner. I am just so impressed at his little mind and the cognitive ability he is developing.

He absolutely LOVES Cookie Monster. I bought a DVD of Cookie Monster right around Christmas and he will request for it to be played now. I am SO glad I never let him watch much TV before because now whenever he is in the upstairs play area, he wants the TV on. He doesn’t get it most of the time. We explain that the TV is going night-night or that it isn’t time for a show, but every once in awhile, we give and he gets his Cookie Monster. We have actually had to hide the DVD case so he can’t go grab it and bring it to us (it is really hard to say NO then!). I am getting excited about introducing him to Sesame Street (pending they haven’t TOTALLY ruined it with political correctness and what not). We do actually receive that station over the air waves and I was able to find out it comes on at 10:30 am. Maybe just maybe I will treat him to that and see what he thinks.

With all this advancement in speech and recognition, we have had a bit of a back-slide in regards to the pacifier. He is quite capable of going into his room and getting the pacifier out of his bed and taking it wherever he wants it. It was cute at first but it is becoming a bit of a habit. Plus, I know he isn’t dealing well with his molars coming in. They have all broken the skin but I am sure he is still in quite a bit of pain. Usually when he gets really whiny (which is more often than I like), he will run off and get the pacifier. It calms him down and makes him happy. How do I take that away from him? Oh well. The trials of being a parent. You hold fast to some “rules” while others just go right out the door!

Let’s see….what else is new…well, he is quite an accomplished mover and shaker. He has no problem with walking or standing up. He is acting like a pro! The only time he gets clumsy is when he is super tired. He is still napping once a day but that is getting shorter and shorter (3 hours to 2 hours to maybe an hour and a half). It is killing me. But he does sleep very long at night (13-15 hours).

He is starting to exhibit more imaginative play. I will see him actually move his cars around and build towers with his legos. It is really neat to watch him do his thing. He also loves to dance! We have finally found a radio station that I can listen to with Abraham around! 101.5. It is country music (of which I used to absolutely detest) but this stuff is good! Plus, the DJ’s are not jerks and there are no controversial commercials. I think it is a local station to the south of Indy since they mention Columbus  and those areas a bunch. But anyway, Abraham gets a joy out of the music and will just wiggle and bounce (dancing). It is really cute! He also has a couple Elmo books that require sing-a-long and he will bring those to me to sing. It is so sweet. He will just bounce away on my lap or if it is during the day, he will stand and dance while I sing. I love these precious moments. Oh, I almost forgot the funniest part!!! Abraham LOVES the Star Trek Next Generation Theme Song! We have been watching episodes for some time now and whenever it starts up, he just starts dancing! It makes our day!

He is also becoming far more interactive with everything. He wants to be a part of any conversation Aaron and I are having. He will actually giggle, laugh, squeal or make some sort of noise/gesture when the TV is on (like he is engaged in the show). He will frequently go over to the dogs and pet them or let them lick his fingers (yuck). He ALWAYS wants to give the dogs biscuits. The dogs love it because they get more biscuits this way:) He is becoming such a little man.

On another note, we have started the BIG MOVE. Yes. Aaron is mostly moved out of his old office and completely displaced. We have stuff EVERYWHERE. I never realized how much STUFF was actually in storage in that room. Oh well. God will provide a solution for us somehow! Anyway, I painted the bottom section of the walls in their new room today (first coat). I am really excited about what we are doing in there. I hope it turns out as good as I have imagined in my mind. We found a perfect wallpaper border at BBRUS on CLEARANCE! I love clearance stuff but usually don’t need it. This was a double bonus because we needed it!!! I will keep you posted on the progress.

Oh yes. I found this picture and with our new scanner I will post it for all to see! This was Abraham’s first experience with Santa. It wasn’t great either. As you can see, Mommy had to sit NEXT to Santa with Abraham apprehensively sitting on my lap. He wanted NOTHING to do with the man in the red suit. But Santa was really nice and tolerated it well. Enjoy the picture!