Permission to Rant: On Staying Too Comfortable

Day 22 in the May blog a day challenge: Rant About Something
So I'm a day behind. Yesterday was a little off. Although we had a wonderful morning-- breakfast at home with some sweet friends (blueberry waffles topped with fresh blueberries, bacon and OJ, oh my!) my sweet girl was having a difficult day as she was cutting a top tooth :( It finally broke through last night but she did not take either naps yesterday and was pretty much a hot mess all day. I got a glimpse of what life is like with a child that does not sleep (whining much?!), and boy, let's just say I really enjoyed a glass of wine at the day yesterday! Here's to hoping all of our children are good sleepers like E usually is (a girl can hope, right!?)...



I usually like this blog space of mine to be a positive place for me to document life and what it throws our way, but today sweet Jenni is pretty much giving us permission to get a little fiesty so why not?! I actually contemplated not doing this but after much thought, I had to just get it done. And yesterday was a perfect fuel for me to just get it out of my system. For yesterday, as exhausting as it was, showed me just how important it is to do this.

So what's my rant? My rant is this: people that never go anywhere because everything is "too far." This was a frustration of mine back home in San Diego, and it is even more of a frustration to me here. I'm not dissing anyone inparticular-- it is just the attitude as a whole. I understand that life gets busy, and that often it is really hard to get out of the house with more than one child or whatnot. But I'm talking about the people who just stay home all the time, watching TV, going to the same 'ol same 'ol restaurants and who live the same predictable lives because they are, dare I say it, afraid to try something new (is that what it is? Or is it too comfortable, lazy, boring, I don't know!)??




We technically live in a "small town" now. Before, we lived in a suburb of San Diego, but there were a ton of nearby "cities" that encompassed us. Now, we live in yet another suburb but the other nearby cities are about 20+ miles away. We can get to downtown in about 15 minutes (urban dining, nightlife, concerts, the whole enchilada!). We can get to incredible shopping areas in about 35 minutes. We can go down south and experience beautiful culture and that's only about 20 minutes away. However, I've found that most people here just like to complain about the lack of dining, lack of things to do, and instead opt for a boring, mundane life because they are not willing to drive 30 MINUTES for a change in scenery. It drives me absolutely BONKERS.

A few weeks ago, we had dinner with some of Joshua's extended family members that actually live here in town (how crazy is that!?). We've only seen them a few times since we moved, but Joshua's cousin asked us, "So have you guys gone out and explored since you've moved here?" Our answer was "YES!" I was so proud that we were able to say that. Life is too darn short to stay too comfortable. Try new restaurants. Go take a drive and go down a road you've never been before. Most likely, you will discover something that you love-- whether that's a great new place for tacos or the most awesome hiking path ever.

What fueled this post is that yesterday, when my sweet girl wouldn't sleep, I put her in the car and we drove about 25 minutes south to a sleepy, quaint little artists' town. Most of the shops were closed for the summer, and the summer heat started to beat down on us in the middle of the afternoon, but we had the best time exploring some of the shops that were open, playing in the grass, and just getting out of the house. We grabbed some soft-serve ice cream (Eden had a few bites, yummy!) and just sat there in the grass enjoying one another. It turned around my exhausting afternoon, energized me for more play before bedtime, and my sweet girl took a little catnap on the way home (winning).

Life is so beautiful. Get out and enjoy it-- be adventurous.
Don't let "having kids" make you into a boring person or let them be your excuse to not live life to it's fullest.
Shouldn't we striving to be an example to our children anyway? That means putting on clothes, getting out of the house and showing them that life is beautiful and we need to see the beauty in it. 

In closing, have you seen this video? It will be the best 20 minutes you've spent all week. What a way to live life to it's fullest. Now go live. Rant over :)

Digging Into The Archives

First of all, my heart and prayers go out to all of those affected by the horrific events that have happened over the last couple of days in Oklahoma. What a tragedy :( Did you see the video of that woman who found her dog in the rubble? I cried like a baby.
What a beautiful story in the middle of such sadness.

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Today's challenge in the blog once a day in the month of May challenge is to dig deep into your archives and share some of your favorite posts.
Below are some of my favorites on various topics. I have some new readers, especially since Eden has been born, so I hope you enjoy going
back in time :)

From my heart //

 Inside My Head Tonight
Dear Lady In Waiting
Let Me Be Honest
Our Testimony

Big Life Events //

A Little Announcement
The Day That Forever Changed My Life
The Day I Told Him He Was Going to Be A Daddy

On Motherhood //

5 Tips for Surviving New Motherhood, From the Newbie Herself
Baby #2
What I Want You to Know Before You Hold That Baby
My 1st Mommy Lesson

For Mamas-To-Be //

Some Thoughts on Becoming A Mother
Favorite Items for Baby So Far
Top 5 Hospital Bag Essentials for Labor & Delivery

Our Eden //

It's A...
What's In A Name?
Eden's Nursery Tour
Ecstatic To Announce The Arrival of Our Daughter
Eden's Birth Story Part I / Part II
Eden's Newborn Photos

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Oh and I'm over at A Bundle of Contradictions today talking about mommyhood! :) Thanks for having me, Wendi!
Check it out here!

9 Months

Outfit: Gymboree

Well I've slacked the last couple of days on the May blogger challenge. I usually like to "unplug" for the weekends as much as possible, so it's really not going to happen that I blog on the weekends unless I am feeling super creative, in the mood to write, or just plain bored ;) I did like the challenges, however (in fact I think they were two of my favorites), so perhaps I'll use those instead of some of the other challenges this week.
Today I'm taking a break of sorts to show you our little lady at 9 months old!

I can't believe our little Eden Grace is 9 months old. She has now been out in this world almost as long as she was tucked away, growing inside me... what a great 9 months it has been! I've said it before and I'll say it again-- everyone says how fast it goes, and that is true! But I really do feel like I've been able to enjoy every single moment of it and have been there for each and every milestone. I have no regrets! One of the best things I ever decided to do before she came into this world was decide to take a picture of her every day using the iPhone Project 365 app. Every single photo triggers a memory. I spent some time looking through them all last night. What great memories! I can't wait to see all of the photos compiled after her first year!

At 9 months, Eden is doing most of the same things she did at 8 months, although she does have some new milestones/updates:

- plays peek-a-boo on demand with her blanket (cutest thing ever!)
- got 1 new tooth on the bottom for a total of 4 on the bottom and 3 on the top, with the fourth top one poking through any day now

- separation anxiety has definitely kicked in at this age! She's more aware of my presence and when I enter/leave a room
- is pretty much in love with storytime at the library!
- still won't let us put a hat on her at the pool and takes headbands/clips out of her hair if she notices us putting them on
- got a new baby pool for the backyard and she loves playing in it on hot days! However, she did discover that rocks and dirt were located right next to the pool and had quite some fun putting her little hands in the dirt and putting it in her mouth :)
- has been taking some spills lately now that she's more mobile. She got her first goose-egg on her forehead after falling off the couch! :( No more sitting on the couch unassisted now... too much on the move!
- Still is crawling backwards and forwards but doesn't move very far (and that's fine with me!)
- is obsessed with books and will sit and read them on her own for extended periods of time
- is still a great sleeper and eater... I'm so blessed!

- had her 9 month checkup last week and is 19 lbs (60%) and 28" (88%)
- still is exclusively breast fed although she is showing less and less interest in it over the past couple of weeks
- definitely realizes that her daddy is gone right now and loves FaceTiming him at night!

Happy 9 months, baby girl, we love you SO much! xo

My Favorite Photo of Myself & Why

Day 17 of the challenge to blog once a day in the month of May: A Favorite Photo of Yourself And Why

Did I do yesterday's prompt? I don't think so... gosh, I can't even remember. Where's my coffee?! We ran around town all day after E's 9 month check-up and then came home to a dog that had made a mess all over the floor... so there's a glimpse of my day! Haha! For the first time in months, however, I did get a solid 9 hours of sleep with no interruptions (no baby cries, dog barking, weird noises in the house) so praise God for that and His mercies that are new every morning, amen!

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I thought a lot about this prompt and, although I have several photos of myself (gosh, that sounds vain to say), this was my final decision as my favorite photo of myself. It's not edited, it's not staged, it's just a completely organic moment that my husband took on our honeymoon back in November 2006 on Cozumel Island, Mexico. What I would do to get back to that beautiful place with just him! In this moment, I remember finally getting a second to take everything in while I laid in that hammock off our balcony... I was MARRIED!?!!! Joshua and I would never have to spend another night apart from one another and I was finally done with the maddness that comes with wedding planning (praise God we only had a 3 month long engagement otherwise I probably would have pulled my hair out). It was a peaceful moment and I love that it was captured through the lens of my favorite man in the universe :)

A Glimpse of How Our Days Roll

Day 15 in the May Blogger Challenge was to show a "day in the life" with pictures. However, I am on week 1 of being a single mom with my man out-of-town and I am just plain exhausted. I have such an easy baby and yet today I found myself ready for a nap about an hour after I woke up and chugged 3 cups of coffee. On a positive note, time is going by pretty fast and I am really enjoying eating blueberry pancakes for dinner (sorry Joshua!) ;)

So back to the "day in the life" photos. They don't exist. I've always wanted to do one of those types of posts. I love getting a peek into other peoples' lives. Perhaps that's the Nancy Drew in me, ha!

So because the said photos do not exist, I thought it would be cool to give you a glimpse of what our day usually looks like. I say "usually" because we all know that life throws us curveballs and our days don't always look the same. And some days I really do just throw it all out the window and fly by the seat of my pants. There's the occasional doctor appointment or whatever and we do naps in the car and run around town. Usually on Joshua's days off, we like to be really active and so that's usually how our days go. But for us, personally, those days end up being the harder days. Way harder. The days I am literally looking at the clock and wondering when it's bedtime! For our family, things go way better and way easier with a flexible, daily routine. I don't like the word "schedule" because it sounds very boxed in, but I guess you could say we do a flexible one-- I don't live by the clock but I do find that the same pattern happens in my child day after day after day. She is a happier, easier baby when this happens. And also, a routine works better for us because my husband has a very weird, up and down schedule (shift work). This helps us plan our days and know what to expect (and I know that Eden rests secure because she knows what to expect, too). If my husband worked at home or had a more flexible work schedule, things would probably look different for us. That being said, this is what our usual days looks like:

6:30-7 AM: Usually Eden wakes up around this time. I pull her out of the crib and it's honestly my favorite part of the day. She's so giggly and happy. I give her some kisses, bounce her on my hip and we head into my bedroom where I nurse her and sing to her.

7-9 AM ish: I make a pot of coffee, Eden plays on the floor with Hartley. They will usually sit and read books and play with toys together, I kid you not. Those two are two peas in a pod. Hartley is actually helping Eden learn to crawl! He'll snatch her little plastic ball from her and go and hide it and then she starts scooting around looking for it! Yikes, I'm in for it! While the coffee is brewing, I usually will take Eden and put her in the high chair and she'll have some solid foods (yogurt, bits of bagel, pureed veggies/fruits, etc). Usually there's a diaper change and then there's more play time together, or some independent playtime while I throw a load of laundry in or whatever. I also enjoy going on a walk in the morning while it's still cool out. We live about 1/4 mile from a great park with swings and so I try to get over there at least a few times a week. Usually around 9ish, Eden will start getting red-rimmed eyes (my sign that she's tired) and I'll grab her pacifier and her blanket and she'll put her head on my shoulder. I'll head upstairs, lay her down in the crib and turn on the sound machine.

9-10:30/11ish: Eden naps. I'll read my Bible, do my devotional, and do my daily floor sweep/vacuum (this has to be done almost daily thanks to having a dog that sheds), perhaps do an exercise DVD (although I've been pretty bad lately), sip some more coffee and do a project of some sort (pay bills, send letters, return emails, blah blah blah).

11ish: Eden wakes and I feed her again upstairs and then return downstairs for some more finger foods. Then we'll head out of the house-- whether that's to run errands at Wal-Mart/Target, go to Costo, go to storytime at the library or you name it. We usually go to storytime twice a week, and I try to go to the farmer's market at least once. On Sundays, we have church during this time. I'll usually head back around 12:30 ish on the days that I do head out of the house in order to get home in time for me to make lunch, etc. Usually Eden is starting to get tired again and she's usually back in her room for her last nap of the day around 1/1:30 PM.

1-3 PM: Nap #2 Usually I try to re-charge during this time. Either I'll try to take a nap myself (pretty much impossible), watch mindless tv, look at blogs, read books/magazines, or organize (read my post yesterday-- I love to organize). I try to avoid doing anything like deep cleaning or being overly-productive during this time. I've found that I'm a much better mama when I'm a well-rested mama.

3 PMish: Feed again upstairs and head back downstairs for solids. Now that she's up for the rest of the day, I'll usually head into the city if I need to run errands, head to a girlfriend's house for the afternoon or do something else that involves me getting out of the house. I do have days where I stay home all day, but I really try to get out for at least a walk with Eden on the days that I do that. I find myself even more productive at home if I've at least gotten out of the house for a little bit. Otherwise, I feel even more lazy and tired, weird huh?!

If we're at home, Eden loves to play in her Johnny-Jump-Up, jump in the Baby Einstein jumper, swing outside in her swing, or move around on the floor playing with books, light up toys, etc. Sometimes she'll sit on the floor while I put away laundry or sit outside in the jumper while I pick up the garage or car. These are just some examples, of course every day is different. Usually around 6:30 PM we're starting the bedtime routine for the night... I only do baths once or twice a week (call me lazy, but Eden's skin gets too dry & she's not mobile enough yet to warrant really being dirty). We put on PJ's, read a few books, turn on the sound machine, turn the lights off and do a last nursing session. Usually she falls asleep (this is the feeding she nurses at the longest) and I unlatch her, put the pacifier in her mouth and place her in the crib. I love to say "Dream big" as I kiss her goodnight. Usually I'll stare at her for a minute or two... okay, maybe sometimes 15 ;) And many, many times... she'll stay in my arms and I'll just rock and sing to her.



The next day comes and we'll do it all over again... phewwww!