Crying. It. Out.

I need to confess something to you. (Yes, you.) I have been feeling a little differently lately. A little refreshed. A little, well, well-rested, if you will. Do you want to know my secret?

We did it. We did what I didn't want to do. We made my sweet baby cry. it. out.

Gasp. I know, I know. It doesn't really mesh well with my quasi- attachment parenting style.

Do you remember my post though? Where I was worn out, worn down, and a little defeated by my barracuda baby? Where my baby was just plain ole' wearing my out? Well, I think part of that exhaustion, loneliness, and boredom was me. I think part of it was E weaning himself from me. And I think part of it was just being really, really tired. For the past eight months, I hadn't slept more than about 4 hours a night, give or take.

These pics have absolutely...

I decided, (out of desperation) that it was TIME. Time to teach my baby how to soothe himself. Time to MAKE him get a full night's sleep that he desperately needed. And time for ME to rest.

So, we did it. Three nights was all it took. I would lay awake at 4 in the morning listening to him wail, and I would want to wail myself while my couldn't wake him if a tornado, fire engine, train rolled through our room tired husband slept peacefully beside me. But, my night four, he slept. And night five, he slept. And now, nights six through I lost count, he's slept.

On a normal night, it's 8:30- 8:00. Sometimes longer, sometimes shorter. But my baby's getting sleep, and he wakes up well rested and happy. This momma's getting sleep, and wakes up well rested and happy. Which makes a happy husband too, since I'm not a big ole' grump come afternoon.

nothing to do with...

Lesson I learn over and over again? Being a momma means letting go of any and every "rule" you thought you had and learning to figure out what's best for you and yours.

Do you know what else happened through all of this? Instead of needing to be bounced for 30 minutes while he got sleepy, he started pushing us away from him and wanting to fall asleep by himself in his crib...without us. He sucks on the trunk of his elephant lovey, or the corners of his favorite giraffe blankey and drifts off to sleep...by himself. Somehow he decided he didn't need us at all. Excuse me while I cry over my big boy growing up. :)

this post.

Jesus Calling and a prayer for Sara.

I requested and received this book for Christmas and am loving it. The author, Sarah Young, decided to be still and listen to the words that landed on her heart from God. She wrote them down in this book, which is more of a daily devotional.

Here's January 27th, which after my last post dealing with learning to rely on God and trust He will take care of us in this life, I thought this entry really applied to me!

Trust is a golden pathway to Heaven. When you walk on this path, you live above your circumstances. My glorious Light shines more brightly on those who follow this path of Life. Dare to walk on the high road with Me, for it is the most direct route to heaven. The low road is circuitous: twisting and turning in agonizing knots. There the air hangs heavy, and dark, ominous clouds predominate. Relying on your own understanding will weigh you down. Trust in Me absolutely, and I will make your path straight.

John 14:1-2- ¹Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in me. ²In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you

Proverbs 3:5-6- 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

On the same note, I need to learn to trust in Him in ALL aspects of my life. When I feel less than equipt to be the kind of mother and wife I wish to be, when I get frustrated with family, when I try to plan, plan, and plan again for my future, and especially when I try to understand why people get sick.

I've mentioned Sara before, but it's important enough to mention again. Sara is the wife of Brian, and momma to two young boys, Scott and Camden. She has been diagnosed with stage four (the "highest" stage) of colon cancer. It has spread to her liver as well, and she needs all of our prayers. She has a website, and I would strongly ask everyone of you to pray for Sara daily, , visit her Caring Bridge website, and leave her a little message encouraging her and letting her know you are praying for her.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/sarawalker

God is good. He can move mountains, and is the ultimate physician. Although I don't understand whybad things happen to faithful people like Sara, I still trust in Him and pray that healing is in His will for her.

Embrace the Camera

Today's Embrace the Camera is probably cheating, but I am a slacker and haven't taken any pictures with my sweet boy in a week, so my legs and feet will have to do for now. :)

This is my little reindeer every night around dinner time. I am busy in the kitchen walking back and forth, chopping food with sharp knives, and carrying hot pans of food. My little leech is pulling up on my pant legs, and I have to literally shake him free to walk anywhere.

Many times I have to call in reinforcements from Big Daddy and he'll swoop him off to the living room to rough house for awhile.

See? There are my feet...embracing the camera. And there's my little four-toothed clingon reindeer. Did you notice his outfit? Who dressed that boy? :) It couldn't have been his mother. (why yes, yes it was.)

Crazy Love.

I'm reading a book by Francis Chan called Crazy Love, and the most recent chapter I read was about being a lukewarm Christian. I'm pretty ashamed to say that many of the descriptions Chan described were me. I am a lukewarm Christian in many ways in my life...and I don't like this about me.

Two of the major ways I feel like my family is pretty lukewarm is in giving and faith. Can I explain?

1. Matthew and I give to our church, but we could always do MORE. Like the widow who gave her meager two coins, we need to give way more than we do. We don't because we want to save for our future, for our children, for our life's plans. This indeed is being lukewarm towards Christ. He asks that we give up everything and follow him. We are giving, but certainly not everything, or even close to everything.

2. We are also lukewarm in our faith, and this one plays into the first one. We like to plan for our future. We want to make sure our son and future children will be able to go to good schools, we want to pay off our house, we want to invest, we want to travel when we're older, etc. We want to save now so we can ensure our family has the things they need later on. This is where we become lukewarm. We are not trusting that God will take care of us. We are planning for our futures, storing up our earthly things, where instead, we should be giving of ourselves, time, and money now. We need to trust and have faith that God will provide later on.

Jesus says that it is almost impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven because they are so trapped by their earthly things. I don't want to be trapped by my earthly things here. I want to be able to give of myself, my family, my time, and my money freely, trusting God will always provide for my family.

This really is a great book, and it has been challenging for me to read, much like Shane Claiborne's Irresistable Revolution. I guess in admitting this to you, I am admitting it to myself as well. I hope I hold myself accountable and CHANGE how I show Jesus I love and trust Him. Go read it, and let me know what you take away from it!

 Can you tell this was a little while ago? He has four teeth on top now!!

Embrace the Camera

My son has reached the age where he can't stand to have anything on his head. Hats get pulled off instantly, leaving me constantly worrying he's going to freeze. Hats, blankets...and antlers. He wasn't a huge fan of these either. I thought they were so cute and thought they'd make a cute Christmas picture, but my wild boy wasn't having any of it.

 I tried to entice him by wearing one myself...he wasn't convinced.

This is pretty much what happened anytime I put it on him. He ripped it right off gnawed on the end. Then I realized he was trying to eat the tiny bells off, and away the antlers went. Oh well- the best laid plans...

Here are the rules in Emily's own words:



1. take a picture with you and your kids/spouse/family member/friend/whatever.

2. blog about that picture and include a link to our blog, or grab our button.
3. link your blog post up on mr. linky below.
4. visit the other embracers...give each other lots of compliments about how good we look with our greasy hair and sweatpants velour jogging suits on. cause yah, we need a little boost when it's been days since our last shower.

5. have fun!


andersonfamilycrew.blogspot.com

Rolling Along and A Bath.

Life is rolling along over here, and I just haven't had too much to say lately. We celebrated one of my best friend's baby showers this past weekend, and it always takes us a few days to get back in the swing of things here at home. The little man has been kind of fussy, and his papa and daddy are sick, so we're hoping it's not coming to him too.

So fresh and so clean clean (outkast, anyone?)

 He's wondering what in the world I am doing, but he's a little too cold to move at the moment.

                                                    Sweet little clean nibbly toes...

                                                                Wrinkled piggies from a warm bath

              And he warmed up and tried to escape. Don't worry, I caught him...and pinched that precious bottom a few times while I was at it. :)

Embrace the Camera Thursday

okay, so now it's your turn to embrace the camera.

In Emily's own words:
here are the rules:

1. take a picture with you and your kids/spouse/family member/friend/whatever.

2. blog about that picture and include a link to our blog, or grab our button.

3. link your blog post up on mr. linky below.

4. visit the other embracers...give each other lots of compliments about how good we look with our greasy hair and sweatpants velour jogging suits on. cause yah, we need a little boost when it's been days since our last shower.

5. have fun!

andersonfamilycrew.blogspot.com

Nine Months

Nine Whole Months. Seven days a week. 24 hours a day. I have been loving this sweet boy. Motherhood is an amazing thing, isn't it? My mom used to always say, "Just wait and see. Those babies will change your life." My brother and I would always reply, "We know, Mom." And she would just shake her head, because she knew. We didn't know.

We didn't have a clue. Becoming a parent changes EVERYTHING. My thoughts, my heart, my intentions, my schedule, my body, my time. Yes, sometimes those changes are frustrating, especially when I want to control things I can't. But those changes are also wonderful.

My heart belongs in this little boy, and I know it will also reside in our future children. One smile melts your heart. A new learned skill makes your day. A cry of pain crushes you.

  It truly makes you want to run to your own mom and thank her and apologize for everything you may have ever done to cause her stress, sleepless nights, heartache, and worry. Because now you know.

Now I know what unconditional love is like. And I love it.

At nine months old, this barracuda;
                  -is sleeping through the night!! (13 hours last night!)
                  -eats 4 7-8 ounce bottles of milk (by the way, did you know you have to change the nipple size? I sort of did know, but didn't know when, and now what used to take E 30 minutes to eat takes about 5 :)
                  -eats 3 meals a day (hates sitting and taking the time to eat-usually a battle)
                  -has started eating more food off our plates (salmon, broccoli, potatoes, cheese, turkey, ham, black eyed peas, etc.)
                 -learned how to pick up puffs and feed himself
                 -learned how to clap
                 - has said "mama" a few time and says " da-da" when he sees Matthew
                - is crawling at super lightening speeds
                - can pull himself up on anything and lets go with one hand
                -walks with assistance
                -makes smacking sound with mouth and blows raspberries constantly
                -got his first busted lip this month (bloody scary mess that gave me a heart attack)
                - likes to grunt loudly
                - throws tantrums when mad (clenches fists, tenses body, and screams-it's so sweet) :)
                -has two bottom teeth and three upper with the fourth coming in soon
                - doesn't have his dr. appt. until the 26th, but is probably about 17 1bs and still in the 5th %, and still in the 80% for height- we'll see

Picture Overload.

Here's a picture run-down of our Christmas (es):

Spirited Outfit= check.

Reindeer Antlers= double check.

                                                   What do you want me to do with these boxes?

                                        Big Hunter Daddy's new wild game cookbook.

                                                                     First Christmas down.

                                                                                   Reading with Deanie.

There's a new handmade stocking hanging from the mantle this year.

                                                                                     Leah and Luke.

                                                                      Matth and Eli.

                                                                              Getting Christmased Out.

  Ant and Kelci.

                                                                     Momma and E- Christmas Two.

                                                                  Momma and E- Christmas Three.

Fave gift of the night- a squishy ball to chomp on.

There were actually TWO other Christmas celebrations after these two, one with my Dad's side and one with Matthew's Dad's side, but we forgot the camera both times. They were great though- you'll have to take my word for it.

Embrace the Camera.

There's a little blog I read about a girl named Emily who has 4, count them, 4 kiddos. They are all adorable, and she's adorable, and she does this little thang called "Embrace the Camera." She encourages mommas to get in the pictures with your kids instead of always being behind the camera. Moms are pretty much the ones who are responsible for capturing all their family memories, and one day, your kids will want to look back and see YOU in the pictures with them. Smiling. Having fun. I have tried to make it a point to get IN the pictures more with my little barracuda. Here we are doing our nightly ritual. I was cooking in the kitchen, and Easy E was crawling around like a madman, pulling up on my pant legs while I tried to move around the kitchen. I grabbed my baby, Daddy-O grabbed the camera, and here it is:

Hair in a ponytail, wearing a sweatshirt, and E in his jammies, but a pic of the two of nonetheless. Now it's YOUR turn...go get in the picture with your kiddo!! 

Here are the official rules in Emily's own words:


1. take a picture with you and your kids/spouse/family member/pet/whatever.

2. blog about that picture and include a link to our blog, or grab our button.

3. link your blog post up on mr. linky below.

4. visit the other embracers...give each other lots of compliments about how good we look with our greasy hair and sweatpants velour jogging suits on. cause yah, we need a little boost when it's been days since our last shower.

5. have fun!

http://andersonfamilycrew.blogspot.com/
 
This is supposed to be done on Thursday, but yesterday I wanted to focus on Sara and her family, not on me. Please remember to keep praying and pray hard.

Prayer Request.

I've been quite the slacker lately, huh? Well, it has been the holidays, and life has been busy lately. We traveled for the holidays and then my mom came back with me for the week.

Our little barracuda is getting more mobile and adventurous by the minute, and I spend lots of my day chasing him around and grabbing tables, lamps, etc. as he attempts to pull them down.

This week I slammed the car door shut on my pointer finger, and had to unlatch the door to rescue my poor finger. I didn't realize how much I use this finger, but it's pretty worthless right now--you should see how many typos I keep having thanks to typing with my other fingers.

What else- Big E turned 9 months old and I still have to take some pictures. I need a good sunny day, and it looks like the weather isn't cooperating right now.

Mainly why I wanted to get on today is to ask you all to pray. Even you who lurk behind the scenes here. :) We are friends with a couple Michael and Stephanie. Michael's sister Sara is married and has two little boys. She was pregnant with a little girl and lost the baby a week before she was due right before Christmas. Although she of course was grief-stricken, she still praised God for his love and the life of her two little boys.

After a trip the the emergency room on Saturday night, she just learned she has cancer in her liver and the outlook is not good. She still has to have more tests run and devise a plan of action with her doctors, but as you know, God is the ultimate healer. He is mighty. He can perform miracles. He CAN do anything. Please pray for Sara, her husband, her boys, her family. Pray for comfort. Pray for peace. Pray that God's will is healing for Sara.