4 Months

Sweet Baby K,

Can I call you that forever? I’m sure you’ll protest when your 35, but for now…you don’t have much of a say in it 😉 Happy 4 months to you, dear boy. I hope I haven’t failed you. This month has been another tough one for you. You spit up a lot, you have trouble napping, and sometimes you scream out in pain. We’ve been attempting to fix the latter with medicine and I hope you’re feeling at least a little better. I don’t want you to hurt, ya know?

You have begun to laugh out loud this month and my, oh my, if it isn’t the cutest thing in the whole wide world! It makes my day every time I hear it.

You are also grasping at your toys on your play mat now. You can hold them pretty well. You’ve also learned to take your paci out of your mouth, which I’m not as pleased with because you can’t seem to put it back in.

I fear you’re becoming very attached to your mommy and daddy because we never leave you with anyone else. Secretly, I enjoy being the one you want and need. But I also worry that you won’t be very independent as a young un because of our preferences. We want you to feel secure and confident as you grow!

You are so close to rolling over! We love to try to help you, but you can’t seem to maneuver that big ole cloth diaper over all the way. It frustrates you to no end. You get that from both sides, Baby K. We, too, find it annoying when we can’t do something we want to be able to do. If you rolled over, I think it might not be fun for you because you still don’t like tummy time. Despite this, you are doing great in holding your chest off the ground with your hands.

I’m really proud of you, K!

Happy 4 Months to you! I promise every birthday won’t come with a bunch of shots.

Love you to the moon and back,

Mom

 

love of my life

This little ole blog of mine has been quite neglectful of one very important person in my life lately…

This guy. He cleans up nice, doesn’t he?

He has been great the past few weeks especially. He is a wonderful father. I knew he would be, but I never could have anticipated how protective he would be of our new addition. I wouldn’t have guessed that he would argue with me about who gets to change his diaper, hold him, or buckle him in his car seat. We both just can’t stay away from our sweet boy.

This isn’t about him, though.

It’s about my husband. The strong, decisive, loving, goofy man I married almost two years ago. The keeper of my sanity. The love of my life.

It feels good to write all those roles out. My husband is so many more roles to me, too. I just hope I can be the wife and mother he always wanted for his new little family.

What do you appreciate about your spouse today? Leave it in the comment section or link up a recent post with Mrs. Alana!

papas, daddies, fathers, etc.

I was blessed to have several men in my life that have served as father figures. This girl has never been lacking in that area of influence and for that, I’m forever grateful. Dads can sometimes get the shaft when it comes to the appreciation and credit of parenting. Let’s dispel that, shall we?

It is for this reason that I will share with you some of my favorite memories-

That’s a picture of my dad and me hiking an East Tennessee trail. Not only is he responsible for much of my love of the outdoors, but he is also probably to thank for my odd sense of humor. He’s a funny guy. I remember waking up each morning for school to him proclaiming from a nearby room, “Wooo Weeee, I get better lookin’ every day!” I like to think he still says this to himself (or out loud) every day.

We’ve had lots of good days. From camping to attending bluegrass festivals to spending hours out on the lake, some of my very favorite memories are with him. We can crack ourselves up by endlessly quoting Wayne’s World or likening a happening in our lives to a specific episode of Andy Griffith.

When my dad is around, you’re sure to have a good time.

Then there’s this man-

The guy who loved my mom so much that he took on a ready-made family to be with her. I’m forever thankful for him, too. I have always respected his opinion and sought his approval when making any major decisions in my life. He has taught me so many things over the years, including helping greatly when I learned to read.

And Lord knows I’m thankful I can do that.

Among other important fatherly figures in my life, are these faces…

and there are others.

I’m so happy that these men will be able to be in Baby K’s life, too. Like I said, I AM blessed.

And to my hubby- on this, your first Father’s Day-

Just look how much fun we are. We’re going to be great parents. I love you, daddy-to-be. Always have, always will.

Water to Wine

From the perspective of a married, mid twenties female (ya know, since that accurately describes me), I’d like to give my two cents on marriage. When I was younger, I had little intention to get hitched before the age of 30. It wasn’t something I wanted to jump into. It was a serious commitment, in my eyes, one I didn’t think I’d be ready to make until much later in life. Much to my surprise, I found the man I wanted to marry when I was twenty three years old thereby crushing all my plans of waiting to get serious with a man.

I knew I wanted Captain J for the rest of my life. Who was this girl? I didn’t feel like I knew myself anymore after realizing this. I DID know that I wanted to marry him.

Many people told me congratulations with hesitant smiles, while others were quick to tell me that marriage wasn’t easy. I know how difficult it can be to find the right words to say in many situations so I didn’t worry too much about the minor discouragements. My relationship with J bloomed over the internet, as he was deployed to Iraq shortly after we met. By the time we were married, I had truly only spent three months with him. The other part of our relationship was long distance. Perhaps this made us stronger and better able to communicate than we would have been had we not had to face a deployment early on.

In a way, I still have no idea what I’m doing. Sure, marriage IS hard, but the alternative would be worse. I now have someone by my side forever (Lord willin’) and that is worth any obstacle that could stand in our way. I have been contemplative lately as I embark on this new journey of studying Marriage and Family Therapy. I know I have so much to learn in practice, in personal experience, and in growing with God’s definition of marriage.

But sometimes I think, “Could it be simple?”

In a wedding ceremony in Cana, Jesus performed his first miracle. He turned water into wine. Is this symbolic? Perhaps marriage is just another miracle from on high. If you think about it, every day you wake up, go to work, and do the whole married couple thing- it’s a decision every day to place faith in your spouse that you’re both in it together. And with God integrally involved in the relationship, what once was plain is transformed into something wonderful!

Faith creates miracles. Faith is what makes one want to keep a marriage going.

Faith. It seems so simple, doesn’t it? It’s beautiful to think about- if you believe in miracles, that is.

Cheers!

Pregnant With Laughter: Part 9

It’s Wednesday, the day after Tuesday. Know what that means?

It’s time for Pregnant With Laughter! No link up this time since no one is interested, but you’re welcome to leave your stories in the comment section if you’d like.

Yesterday was bad. It’s still only in the stage of kinda funny. It’s still hard to laugh at myself today because I remember how distraught I felt less than 24 hours ago.

It was just one thing after the other. J came home complaining that the house stinks, which I took personally because I am the one who had been at home cleaning all day. How could it be stinky?!

Then, I reluctantly told him that I had accidently over paid our rent by $100 dollars and he began acting like the world was about to end. I tried to calmy explain that I’m sure the realty company could just put it towards next month and it wasn’t a big deal, but then he used the word “unorthodox” and I just flipped my lid.

Everything felt like a personal attack to me- like I couldn’t do anything right and I wasn’t allowed any mistakes.

(I know how ridiculous this all sounds. Poor hubby didn’t see how I was wrongly interpreting all of this.)

Annoyed, I decided to head to my happy place- Hobby Lobby.

I hopped in the car with visions of crafting on my mind and set off. Over the next few moments, I must have had an out of body experience. When I came to, I realized I had no idea where I was. I remembered seeing all the familiar surroundings, but I couldn’t seem to figure out how each of them could lead me to Hobby Lobby.

Where am I?

How do I get there?

Help!

These were just a few things going through my mind as tears streamed down my face and I made my way back to the only place I knew confidently how to get to- home.

Empty handed.

Crazy pregnant girl emotions. Insane logic. Heartburn. Back pain. Yep, must be 25 weeks:

Buh-bye

A brief hiatus is in order,

for a certain couple on the Georgia border

We’re off to frolic, hand in hand

and place our toes back in the sand.

Goodbye, farewell, I’ll write again,

but not until after I work on my tan.

Love,

Mrs. K

splendid sun

Instead of frantically searching craigslist for a job so the hubby and I don’t have to hit the poor house (due to the pay freeze), I’m chillaxin in a comfy chair in a breezy, beautiful place and perusing failblog and failbook. They make me giggle.

Jenn and I have had a great time here doing absolutely nothing. The weather has been beautiful since that one rainy day and we’ve taken advantage of it, relaxing in the sun. In an effort to save money (due to the pay freeze), we prepared all of our food here (except for that tee tiny trip to the bagel place).

I’m anxious to find my way back to Georgia to the arms of my husband. Today, he told me: “I’ve completely forgotten how to function without you.” Apparently, he’s been living off of ramen noodles and Pizza Hut delivery. Bless his bones! I’ll be home soon, babe 😉

While away, I worked really hard to finish the book I was reading. Do you see the sarcasm here? I actually wasn’t working hard at all. I was reading on the beach, day after day, to bring you this book review:

Khaled Hosseini crafted the words in a new favorite read of mine, A Thousand Splendid Suns. I had heard so many good things about this book and finally found it at a repeat store in Columbus for a little over a dollar. I found a jewel with that purchase! I will say that the book might get you fired up! It might make you sick to think of the injustice in the world. It might make you see a tiny glimpse of the heartache that many Afghanistan women have endured over the last 40 years.

The novel takes you into the lives of two women, Mariam and Laila. Both grew up in separate towns in Afghanistan, but later find their lives intersecting in a most unwelcome way. After understanding that they only had one another, they began to bond over crushed dreams, day to day heartaches, and past wounds. Their story is one of oppression, but also one of compassion.

I don’t want to give too much away. You should read this book, though. I won’t promise that it won’t infuriate you or make you wonder if there’s hope at all for them, but it’s one that you don’t want to miss. It kind of puts this whole pay freeze into perspective. Sure, it’s annoying. But we’re so much better off than so many people in this world!

³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well

We’re headed “home” tomorrow. Wish us safe travels and we’ll chat again soon!

Love,

St. Patty’s Day Cheer

I have an insatiable desire to make minor holidays leave major impacts on my little family. I think one day my children will enjoy this about me. Meanwhile, I’m pretty sure my husband is less than impressed. Hehe 🙂 Nevertheless, I plug away at crafting or gathering festive, small gifts to make his day a little brighter.

Today is St. Patrick’s Day! I’ll bet you already knew that, didn’t you? Maybe you’ve already been pinched for not participating in the green wearing fun? Perhaps you have plans to drink green beer tonight and be merry! If so, have one for me. As for Mrs. K, Captain J, and BayBay- we’ll be chillin’ out, bein’ old.

Still, we will enjoy these little treats-

I suppose I should explain what is goin’ on there. Ya see, Captain J has been a wittle sick. Bless his allergy attacked, stuffy head.

So, I got him more Kleenex. What of it?!

I also like to include some fun fact about the day when I start making holiday cheer & shenanigans, which is why I typed this out for him to read:

(No making fun of my sad attempt at shamrock perfection) If you can’t read the fine print, it says that St. Patrick is credited with using the shamrock as a teaching tool to explain to others the three divine persons in one God- the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Hoping to find a bible verse to illustrate, I opened my bible and found these words:

There are obnoxious St. Patty’s day stickers all over the Lucky Charms (that conveniently say “Lucky in Love”), green muffins for Cap’n to take to work to share with the guys (they’re banana nut..yum!), and the bag has a shiny, new green shirt in it.

Also, what’s St. Patrick’s Day without an Irish blessing?

 

I extend that blessing to all of you, too! I hope you have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day.

                                                                                                       

Pregnant With Laughter- Part 2

It’s time again for my weekly blog hop where we all get to dish out our funny stories involving pregnancy, motherhood, or just funny kids in general. Welcome to:

I’d love for you to join in! Just link up below and feel free to take the above photo if you’d like. Today’s story I have to blame on these crazy, insane pregnancy hormones-

Having recently woken up from a nap (and a terrifying dream), you can imagine that I wasn’t in the best of moods. In the dream, a new disease was threatening our already scary existence here on this planet. Unfortunately, people were having symptoms that just couldn’t be explained unless you had a KFC menu in hand.

Wait. Are you lost? I should back up to explain a bit more.

I did, in fact, mean Kentucky Fried Chicken in the above acronym. You see, people were finding themselves being taken over by a disease that turned their entire bodies into the consistency of fried chicken. Faces were unrecognizable. Arms and legs were resembling chicken thighs. People we knew and loved were starting to look…tasty. Ok, I kid. It was awful. The affected individuals were haunting my nightmares and with good reason. I might be traumatized. Maybe.

Anyway, I don’t recall what happened in this dream. I just know that it was one of the wackiest I’ve had to date.

Back to reality…

Later, I burst into tears, trying and failing to hide this from my dear husband. He rolled over in the bed, asking me if I was crying. Tears streaming down my face and sniffling in full force, I of course replied, “No.” He never believes me.

He said (love his heart), “I promise when you tell me I won’t try to fix it. Just tell me what’s wrong”.

After stuttering a bit, I realized that I had no idea what was wrong with me. Searching my brain frantically to come up with the source of my anxiety, I stalled. What was I to say?

You hurt my feelings 6 months, 8.5 days ago!

or

I had a dream our dogs died.

or

Oh, my achin’ back!

No. Couldn’t say any of that.

Instead, I finally chose the truth-

“I have no idea why I’m crying!” (insert severe sobbing and confusion).

Captain J simply hugged me and said he would always be here for me.

Apparently that satisfied me because three minutes later I was in the kitchen preparing a grilled cheese with a smile on my face.

Like I’ve said a lot lately, I’m ready for my normal hormones again. The sane ones. The ones that don’t make me a loony toon. Meanwhile, I’m racking up all kinds of stories that’ll be sure to make me giggle when I’m old and gray!

Do share your stories with me this week! If you don’t have a blog, feel free to put them in the comment section. I’ll leave the link open until next weeks entry so join in anytime.

Pineapple Visitors

I had such a good weekend! How was yours? It was dreary and rainy here in ole Georgia, but I didn’t mind because it made for good sleeping, good shopping, and good cuddling in with my husband for some movie watching. My best friends from high school (and way before that) made the drive south to visit yours truly. I was so happy to see them and have them visit me for a change. Needless to say, we didn’t have many visitors in Alaska. It’s a pretty penny to get up there!

Miranda, Laura, and I enjoyed a dinner on Friday evening at a local place and got to catch up with each other. It’s not always easy to do when I go home to visit because there are always so many places to go and many people to see. On Saturday we slept in a bit and then went to do some shopping, although I think I’m the only one that had any luck. I bought a new dress which I tried out today at church!

I’m having troubles finding clothes to fit. While the rest of my body is still in a size 4, my belly is protruding too much for that. If I go a size up, it looks awkward in the arms and chest. Captain J keeps telling me, “that’s why they make maternity clothes” but so far I’ve refused. I’m thankful to be obviously pregnant now. I smile when strangers tell me congratulations or even better, when the cook at Japanese restaurants gives me extra portions “for the baby.”

After my girls left, I pouted and threw a hissy fit I took up residence on the couch with J and we watched a free movie rental! He had been making banana nut bread so we had a few bites slices of that, too. I like my husband a whole lot!

To top off my fun weekend of doing nothing much at all, we were finally able to find a church that we both really enjoy. I’m so happy that our search is over and we have a place to look forward to going on Sundays. I’m still looking into getting involved during the week, too. I’ll quit rambling now….

I have an appointment with words with friends. 😉