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Sunday, October 23, 2011

Weekend to remember

J and I just got settled back in to our home in the piedmont - much different than our home for 2 days in the mountains of TN.  We went for the weekend (without Miriam) and our purpose was two-fold: 1-to attend the wedding of a dear friend, one of the girls from the band I traveled with after high school and 2-to celebrate our 5th yr wedding anniversary.  We had a blast of a weekend - and thanks to the wedding and all of its festivities, we are pooped!

The rehearsal and reception were by far nothing I'd ever been a part of before - and the reception especially was something I've only seen in magazines.  I even got to play in the wedding with some of the most talented Nashville and CA musicians.  We saw gorgeous trees at the peak of their color changing season. We spent time together as a couple (something we haven't done in quite some time).  We talked about what's ahead and what we've been through. We ate until we couldn't eat anymore.  We BOTH got pedicures and laughed the whole time.  All in all, the weekend was the best I could imagine.  Such rejuvenation!   Here are some photos from the weekend - they don't even capture half of the goodness we experienced!



tablescape at reception 


cool moss-covered ornament



scene from overlook site

happy anni flowers from J in the hotel room

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Questions

Now that I'm about 85% recovered from the weekend of caring for sick Miriam, and the early week caring for sick me (BLAH), I'm trying to bog my mind with things other than lysol, toilets, and ginger ale. These are the questions that I've been pondering considering our life change in Feb/Mar:

1 - do I get a double stroller? a travel system? tandem or side by side? jogging? do I sell what I have now?
2 - what kind of furniture do we get for Miriam in her new room? same type of "lifetime" furniture with converting crib? matching furniture? really nice furniture that we bought for the nursery?
3 - how do you put 2 children in all-day childcare? surely there's someone willing to watch both Miriam and baby when June rolls around?? and willing to do it half the cost (the cheapest I've found yet is $1750/month - and it's a hole in the wall!)
4 - what size clothes will Miriam be wearing at Christmas? she wore 18 months all summer, but now, some 18 months fall stuff is too big, some too little, but she seems to have stopped (or at least slowed) her growth some
5 - what happens if they put me on bed rest at 28 weeks (I was threatened with this the other day) - how do full time working moms with a traveling husband deal with this??
6 - when will I get my appetite back?
7 - what will I wear tomorrow?
(sorry, 6 and 7 are just thoughts about tomorrow...)
8 - what will we name our baby girl?
9 - I wonder how long I'll nurse our baby girl
10 - I wonder if anybody wants to sell me their ERGO carrier....

Saturday, October 15, 2011

busy

So we're stuck at home, and mostly inside this weekend getting over all of the bugs we've had this week. I would have much rather been in the mountains this weekend, enjoying a different side of church ministry, taking trips to the apple orchard, and going bowling with my famous shoes.  Instead, I'm about to go crazy in the house!!  So, I made a few goals for myself this weekend.  And, I've been pinning so much on pinterest but haven't yet done anything with my pins.  So, I took a trip to the pumpkin patch at WUMC this morning and to Walmart and got busy! Here were my goals:
1. Make my 8 year old niece, Grace, a clip board following this idea
2. Make burlap printouts of one our favorite lines from a book we read to Miriam often put this idea and this idea into one project.
3. Add some type of "fall-ness" to our porch (we don't celebrate Halloween and I'm hesitant to put out pumpkins before Nov 1, but we were looking a little bare and boring).
4. Hand wash all of my sweater cardigans and let them dry in the beautiful sunshine.

And here are my accomplishments:
1.

90% finished product (I like polka-dots instead)

added embellishment for girly fun!



2.  My burlap printouts will have to wait - need ink in the printer :(

3. Our porch started with this lone mum (which, by the way, I got on the clearance shelf for $3.13 on Thursday). and I even left it in the black plastic pot. Sad.

So, I took a few items that we had in storage, and added two "fresh" pumpkins and turned our front porch into fall fun! 

Can you tell which pumpkins are real vs fake??
4. All sweaters are washed and hanging on the rack on the deck. So fresh and clean, clean!

Now, I must sleep while I still have a little time left in Miriam's nap (which I should have made goal #5)



Friday, October 14, 2011

Let's rewind

It's been a rough week around the Ghent household - if we could only rewind the week and start all over...here's why:
1. If you remember from one of my posts last weekend,  we headed outside to get some photos of Miriam, in the midst of the backyard-infested mosquito bed. Well, we just knew they were out there, but we weren't sure that she actually got bitten. Well, Monday morning brought us a bit of surprise. One bite on each cheek, 3 on her left hand (that made it swell up so bad all over!), and one on her right ear. Poor thing!  Well, apparently Monday night/early Tuesday morning in her sleep she must have scratched her ear - which led to scratching off the bite, which led to goop oozing from her ear all Tuesday morning and afternoon.  It was yuck-o, but the preschool folks assured me it wasn't too much to worry about.  Well, since Miriam stays the afternoon with the doctor's wife, he came home for lunch and diagnosed her infection! So we got antibiotic and have fought with putting it on her ear every morning and night this week. It's so gross looking.  And I'm sure it has to bother her.  Poor thing!

2.  On Tuesday night, I was playing with Miriam in the floor before bed. She got all excited, and is really into the whole "dive into anything" right now, so she dove right into me, into my right side down far enough to hurt me and scare me that she hurt the baby.  Unfortunately, pain started immediately and I continued cramping all through the night.  I debated whether to call the doctor (b/c what was I going to tell them...my daughter fell on me?! not to mention, I already had an appointment scheduled for the upcoming Monday...) but the cramping and pain didn't stop by morning, so I had an appointment late that afternoon.  The doctor assured me that no trauma was caused and the baby was fine, beating at a very strong heartbeat of 155 bpm.  He was so kind and didn't make me feel like an idiot.  He has been great in coaching me through this second pregnancy, as we've gotten to be a little cautious (read a little about why here).  So, I rested, put my feet up, slept a little longer each morning, and took to my 500 mg tylenol for comfort.

3.  Thursday, I went to pick Miriam up from the sitter's house and she was still sleeping when I came.  I went it to get her and she woke, then I realized there was something in her pack-n-play...and it was all over her...and in her hair!  She had gotten sick, and obviously her lunch was making a reappearance.  She stood up quickly and started crying for me, so I picked her up...where she then proceeded to throw up even more - ALL OVER ME!! Now, I already have a queasy stomach, not to mention pregnant making it even more queasy. But I deserve a big award - she did this to me 5 or 6 more times and I never spewed....until the last time.  Poor thing - we got her cleaned up, tried to lysol everywhere in the sitter's house, and we went outside to make it home. Put her in the car seat and - you guessed it - all over. Again. Everything. So, we RE cleaned up, but this time put her back in the car naked (we'd already gone through the spare clothes) and prayed to make it home before the next episode...which happened as soon as we walked in the door. It was a rough afternoon/night to say the least! She did, however, sleep well at night, but woke with a 100 fever that FINALLY went down after she woke from her 3 hour nap this afternoon.

4. With all of the unfolding events, I had to back out on the church-wide retreat weekend. This is a super fun weekend away in the mountains with folks from the church. Although I spend a good amount of time working (friday night, saturday morning, sunday morning), I enjoy being away with everyone. Just need a break every now and then. But instead, I stayed up til after 11 typing up my entire lesson that I had poured thought and excitement into...then spending the morning writing down all of my responsibilities and delegating them to others. It was a headache and such a bummer that we're stuck at home (J and I living in fear of getting the bug ourselves), and still giving Miriam the BRAT diet.

Perhaps the upcoming Saturday will be restful, beautiful, exciting, and family-filled...everything it would have been in the mountains, but except at home.
Have a good weekend yourself!

Monday, October 10, 2011

I got crafty

For my friend Kimberly's baby shower this past weekend, I was considered to be one of the hostesses...although I don't feel like I did much. I showed up with cocktail weinees and oatmeal scotchies (my famous recipe). I didn't feel like that was enough, so I decided to embark on a crafty journey and went with homemade bath salts as party favors for everyone. It was SO easy, and I definitely will use this idea again, maybe for Miriam's preschool teachers presents at the end of the year. This is what I did:
1. Gather supplies:


A large bag of Epsom salt, 2 containers of sea salt, and one large box of baking soda (all from Walmart), and a jar of tangerine essential oils that I already had from my homemade cleaning solution (but I originally purchased it from EarthFare).  I always keep some quick oats on hand, so I decided to use some of those too.  I also bought 2 boxes of 8 oz canning jars (12 in each box).  These supplies filled 22 of the jars about 3/4 of the way full.

2. Mix:  2 cups epsom salt, 1 cup sea salt, 1/2 cup baking soda, and 1/2-1 cup of oats in a metal or stainless bowl. Add in 20 drops of oil and stir with a metal spoon.

3. Fill the jars with the salt mixture and seal

That's really how easy it was.  I wanted to write a little note with directions, so I formatted a circle in the right size, and typed out my directions. Then printed them out on cardstock, cut them out, and placed them on top of the lid.  This was the final, and very cute (might I add), product.  I even wrote a little poem to go along. I think they were a hit, and I hope all the girls enjoy them!


Sunday, October 9, 2011

The first attempt

**Warning, many pictures of Miriam to follow**

I have been pretty bad with taking pictures of Miriam since she turned 1 in July. We've been busy, I've been sick, and I just haven't had the camera nearby when it's needed most. So, I've challenged myself this month to really get movin' and get some shots, since it is the beginning of fall, and she celebrates a month day (TOMORROW!).  We are heading to the mountains next weekend, so I have held off on the pumpkin shots until then. Today, with it being so windy, we headed to the back yard to see how good we could get.
Well, we didn't get good at all for a few reasons:
1 - Miriam is obsessed, I mean OBSESSED with dogs.  Each morning when we get her from her crib, she's standing up pointing to the window or the lamb piggy bank, "woofing."  Whenever she sees the lady who cares for her in the afternoons, she "woofs" at her too.  When you ask her "Where's Lily(the dog at the sitters)?" She gets a concerned look on her face and holds out her hands, like "I don't know, where?"  All that means, that when we head outside, she immediately woofs. We have dogs on both sides of us, but one dog, "Jazzy Girl", in particular is rather large and barkey 24/7!  As soon as we got into the back yard, the dog went crazy - and totally took away Miriam's focus (as if she had any to begin with....). Then, as it calmed down, our other neighbors let out their cute dog (who doesn't bark at all and Miriam is totally intrigued by her, but she's totally afraid of her). So, between the two dogs, it was impossible to get her to look at the camera, much less smile.  All she wanted to do was "woof" the whole time.
2 - Our backyard is infested with mosquitoes. I thought it wouldn't be that bad today since it was cooler, but we were wrong. We all got bitten and annoyed by them.
3 - Miriam is still figuring out nature (leaves, twigs, and grass) and still allergic to most of it. So between her playing in the ground, sneezing, and wiping her nose, we had very little time to snap photos.

With that said, what follows is a picture story of our photo shoot. They may not be super cute, but they're hilarious.
I'm safe here if the dogs come after me...

perhaps the best shot?

"Okay mom, I'll pose for you - how does this look?"

I'm not so sure about this, guys...

Really, how many more of these are you going to take?

ooh ooh ooh, there's Bella!

"But where's Lily?"

"what's that over there?"

"Jazzy, be quiet!!"

Friday, October 7, 2011

A few thoughts...

It's Friday (our 5th wedding anniversary!) and J and I have celebrated out tonight. We spent some time with sweet M outside, then went for a family/anni dinner at Olive Garden, compliments of J's parents.  I love easy-going Fridays, it makes such a great start to the weekend.   Just a few thoughts on my mind as we draw this week to an end:
1-tomorrow is my friend Kimberly's baby shower - I've waited forever for this one! It's going to be a college girls reunion of about 20 girls and 8 or so of our children (all girls!). YAY! I'm so excited for her and John, they're going to make cute, great parents to Baby F.
2-tonight at Olive Garden was an interesting night - we saw 5 families with folks with disabilities. although one was mild with just a boot/cast on their leg, others were in permanent wheelchairs, some were mentally disabled, and one family (just a mom and son)-ot real sure what their story was, but the mom walked from her car and into the restaurant carrying her son (who was at least her size, if not larger)....they sat near us and he ate the fool out of the never ending pasta bowl! we couldn't figure out if it was a special night for olive garden to offer discounts for the disabled, or if the Lord just opened our eyes to some of these situations for a reason.  M was so sweet to each one of them though - as always, she grinned real big and gave a huge pageant-like wave. Love her socialness!
3-I'm THRILLED about our pregnancy. It's getting old REAL quick for folks that make comments like "oh wow, they'll sure be close in age"...or "did you plan this?"...or "you'll have your hands full" with such grimaces on their faces. for those that care, we prayed DILIGENTLY for this child MONTHS before its conception, and despaired over the possibility of not being able to get pregnant again since our difficulties with sweet M the first time. What some may not know is that we spent many many nights praying, crying, and seeking the Lord's guidance in our ever present desire to grow our family even more, which was so unusual to us. We almost struggled more with the thought of #2 than we did with M.  So to answer those questions, yes, they'll be close in age, but not as close as we wanted them, or they could have been...in a sense, no, we didn't plan this - God did - but we DID want another child by the time M was 6 months old....and yes, my hands will be full - but no more full than they already are with a full time job (in the ministry at that!), being a full time wife and a full time mother. I just get to experience more joy with 2 at such a young age. so there!
4 - The Lord has been teaching me much about prayer, as I'm advising a Bible study by Kay Arthur Lord, Teach Me To Pray, and teaching the Lord's Prayer in children's church each Sunday.  What continues to ring in my head and heart is that the God who sees everything and provides for my needs has a will to be done on earth and I am to pray and seek out that will, for His glory, not my convenience.  With this pregnancy, I've been more thoughtful of what may happen with our child.  The Lord has prepared us more for the unanticipated, and that scares me to a degree....but as long as I'm praying in His will, all will be provided, right?
5 - M can make sounds of a cow, tiger/lion, doggie (of course), and sometimes a cat. She says "nana" for just about every type of food, although there's a distinction for an actual banana and Nana (J's mom). She walks and has started running-wobbling some. She loves to play with balls and cars, and hates grass. She loves food, and only hates olives. But out of all of these things, she LOVES to pray. If there isn't something that makes me happier, it's that when we sit down for a meal or snack, she can put her hands together and pray "GaaaaaaaaaaaD". I'm a proud ministry momma!

Happy first weekend in October! Have a good one!