Dear Little Baby

Dear Lorelei,

9 months!!
Here is what you can do:
-Crawl...everywhere!
-Pick up and eat little puffs and cheerios
-Pull up to stand
-Say "dadadada" and "mamamama" We can't tell if you are for sure saying momma and dada, but I do know that when you want me to come and get you, you say "mamamama"
-Sleep around 12 hours a night in your crib
-Weigh 19.15 lbs (75%) and are 29 inches long (95-97%)

Firsts:
-First time to swim in the pool!! You loved it!
-First time to swim in the lake.
-First trip to the zoo!
-First time to pull up. (You first did this in your crib when you had thrown a wubba-nub overboard and wanted it back.)

Your doctor told me to start feeding you table food. So, you have had an eggo dipped in pears...which you didn't particularly like. I don't know if it was the eggo you didn't like, or the fact that I was making you feed it to yourself. I would guess you just wanted to be feed, because eggos are yummy. You have also had a little tofu mixed with wheat germ. I have pureed some turkey breasts, so those are next! You still don't have any teeth. You chew on the sippy cup instead of sucking on it. You take 4 bottles a day, none of which you will hold yourself :)

Girl, you don't miss a minute of life. This is why sometimes you refuse to nap, and instead play and squeal in your crib. This is also why if you sleep in the car, the minute we stop-you wake up and look around because if you continued sleeping, you would be missing out on whatever we were doing. This is also why whenever you sit in your stroller, you sit way up at the end, hold on to the snack tray and squeal all through the store. People must think you rarely get out of the house because of your extreme excitement! We pass lots of other babies snoozing in their stroller, but not you. There is just not time for naps in strollers when there is so much shopping to be done!

I can't believe you are already almost one year old. September seems like yesterday. But, we are blessed that you are growing, big and strong. We love you, little miss!

Love,
Momma & Daddy

China Patterns

This week's topic @ Kelly's Korner is china patterns. And I am in L-O-V-E with my pattern. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to display it yet. So as soon as we are in our house, the first thing I plan to buy is a china cabinet to show off all this gorgeous-ness!

Lenox "Opal Innocence"

On a side note, why in the world can I not figure out how to grab a button and use it when I am blogging? This is the second time this week that I have tried, and I still can't get it to work. Help!

Wishful Wednesday

I almost missed it!! I haven't been on the computer because my dear,sweet child hasn't slept more than 30 minutes today, all of which were in the car. But, I made it in time for Wishful Wednesday! My very first one!

So here it goes...

'I wish' .... I had the opportunity to change careers and it would be to become BOSS!!

I know, it isn't really a career. But I like to be boss. I want to be in charge. In charge of lots of people and lots of things. I guess I could say that I do pretty much run this little household of ours, but unfortunately it doesn't make me boss. And I guess I really don't technically want any "career" other than stay-at-home momma. But if I did, I would like to be a big important boss!

Poop Lesson

Well, I guess it was my time to learn a lesson. When you don't hear your dear child for a significant period of time during a long "nap," CHECK ON THEM! Otherwise, you may come in to greet them in a poop-filled crib and a poop-covered baby. yucky. She was standing in her crib happy as can be, and then I noticed. Poop covered hands, poop covered feet, diaper hanging off, poop all over blankets and sheets, and the worst...poop on bumper pad. I have a love/hate relationship with the bumper. It certainly is cute, but it is the biggest pain to get on and off. It's a good 20 minutes worth of frustrating work to get that thing on. So, after 2 baths...L is clean and playing in front of her "God Made Animals" movie and I am doing lots and lots of laundry.

Deals, Deals, Deals

In my previous post, I said that getting good deals and finding discounts makes me extremely happy. I don't know what it is, but I get all giddy and excited when I find discounts. Maybe that is why it usually is a very long process for me to purchase things. That's because I am thinking about how to get the best deal. Thinking, "How can I find a coupon code for this? Could I get it off ebay or craigslist?" So imagine my excitement, when I saved $131.14 on L's new carseat!!!!! We have been debating about when to get her next carseat and what kind we wanted. I really wanted the Britax Boulevard, but it was $309.99 And that is crazy. Even though it will last the next 4 + years, I couldn't bring myself (or Rob!) to spending that, when we could get a different brand for $150. But, Britax has amazing safety ratings, and I was in love with the comfy looking headwings of the Boulevard, and the non-rethreading system so you don't have to rethread the straps to adjust the height. So here is how I earned my deal:

Diapers.com price matches. So I set up an account there, found the Boulevard seat I wanted, and then went off searching for the same seat cheaper. Found it for the same price on another site, but this particular site had a discount code for 25% off! So, called Diapers.com and asked them for a price match. They adjusted my account so that the seat would be $232.49. Then, I found a code for diapers.com for an extra 15% off for first time customers (that's me!). So, that brought the price to $197.61. So, I spent $197.61. But the discounts don't end there my friends. I heard of this site called Bing Cash Back, (Am I the ONLY one just now learning about this marvelous site!? Where have I been?) which gives you a % cashback on the purchases that you make through their site. So prior to ordering my seat, I set up a Bing account and went through their site to get to the carseat. So now, I have $19.76 in Bing Cash Back that I will be issued. Making my $309.99 seat, a $177.85 steal!!!

I think I have officially topped my deal finding skills.

These are a few of my favorite things...

This will be my first official MckLinky game! I meant to participate in Kelsey @ The Seattle Smith's "Wishful Wednesday" last week, but I didn't get around to it. So this week, I am making MckLinky a priority! Starting with "Show us Your Life" at Kelly's Korner. This week, her topic is things that you love/make you happy.

*These two:

*Family

*Texas Tech...Wreck Em!

*Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Chi Omega Sisters, & along with this comes carnations & pearls

*Diet Coke...from a fountain

*Seeing God work in my life and the lives of others

*Massages and the spa...and I am lucky enough to get a 3 minute back massage everynight from my dear husband, "just because I am his wife"

*Being a momma

*Birthdays

*Good friends

*Mimosa's

*Texas

*Witnessing (and participating in) acts of kindness. Once I saw a truck break down in front of me at a red light and everyone started jumping out of their cars to go help them push it. You might say it is because he was in the way, but I believe they were helping because they were being kind.

*Rain

*The beach

*Using lots of coupons to get a really good deal...(which by the way, I am about to do and then I will come and tell you all about how I saved over $100 on my blog. you just wait...)

*Popcorn

*Pretty smelling candles

*A clean house with no laundry to do (HA!)

*Cake

*The fall season

*Starting new traditions and carrying on old traditions

*PINK

*Sitting with Rob on the couch at the end of the day watching our shows on DVR. Oh thank goodness for DVR...

I have to add one thing that I am NOT loving...and that is this new diet I am on. Today was day uno and I am starving. But, I have paid bucoos money for this diet so I will not cheat and I will loose wait. I am confident. But I am also starving.

The Perfect Plan

As I am seeking a job for next school year, I have really been praying about it. I know with 100% certainty that my purpose in life was to become a mother. God gives us all gifts and purposes, but mine is a passion for motherhood and family. Without passing any judgement, I also firmly believe that I personally can best do this by staying at home with my children, and not working outside the home. So, when Rob and I discussed me going back to work next year, I did not receive the idea very well at first. I knew that financially, it made since. But, emotionally I wasn't ready. And I still do not know that I am ready. How can I really be prepared to drop my precious child, the one that I love with everything I have, at daycare? It is something I struggle with the thought of, but know that I can do it, and I will do it. I am stronger than I think I am. Through many prayers about me returning to work, I realize that it is God's will that I pursue a job right now. And then if God blesses us with more children, we will re-evaluate what God is laying on our hearts.

While reading the book that I have recently blogged about, "I Will Carry You," I learned something. I do not always pray about a problem in the way that God desires me to. I am a perfectionist, and a planner. And neither of those is achievable. We are all sinners, but by the grace of God, are forgiven time and time again. I will never be perfect. I fall short. I also like to have a plan. Well the joke is on me because God laughs at my plans. Because my "plan" doesn't matter. The only master plan is His plan. When I pray about something, I ask him for what I desire....find a job soon, a job I like, etc. Then I read this in the book I was telling about:

"...What Mary and Martha say in their message to Jesus is not as interesting to me as what they don't say. They don't refer to Lazarus by name, nor do they ask Him to heal their brother. While we can infer that they were conveying a need for help, they don't actually ask Him to do anything specific. The request is similar to the one Mary, the mother of Jesus, made at the wedding feast in Cana. We are told that as the wine started to run out, she said to Jesus, 'They have no more wine." She doesn't explicitly tell Him the solution she is looking for but rather states the problem and waits to see what He will do about it. As I read their words, it occurred to me that this is not the way I approach the Lord with a crisis. I run to him with a laundry list of suitable responses and beg him to accommodate me."

This is exactly what I needed to read. God doesn't need me to give Him solutions, or ideas, or the way I hope it turns out. He knows my heart, but His plan is the only and best answer. So, instead of praying to find a good job soon, I have prayed, "Lord I do not have a job..."

I had an interview for and was offered a part time private school teaching position today. One year ago, 6 months ago, one month ago, this is exactly what I would have wanted to do. Isn't it funny though, how things can change so quickly. After hoping for a job like this to become available, I am feeling God lead me in a different direction. I am taking a leap of faith. I am trusting in Him and know His perfect plan for me will be done. Not yet knowing what the plan is..."Lord, I do not have a job..."