growing

i know that all of my baby posts aren't so exciting to people who don't have kids. but one day when you do have babies, you'll remember all of these posts and just nod your head and understand what all the fuss was about.

she's eating a lot. her tummy is telling me that she's getting plenty of nourishment - so are the rolls on her thighs. i love how squishy our little baby is. our little baby is getting big. when i nurse her, her legs hang off my lap and kick the bed or the side of the chair - her toes play games with each other. it's precious and yet somewhat distracting b/c she'll stop eating only to do her little eyebrow scowl simply b/c she can't figure out who is playing with her toes while she's eating. it's her. she's distracting herself from one left piggy to the right. such a silly little girl.

she squeals when i sit on the side of the bathtub and start drawing her bath water. and once in her bathtub - oh it's on. she kicks with some serious baby furry and squeals and laughs and makes noises inside her blue cup. we don't need toys - we only need our blue cup that magically echos baby sounds back at the baby. it's completely fascinating - apparently.

and we don't need toys to play with while we crawl. we just need outlets and lamp chords and carpet with weird shapes on it and hardwood floors to thumps toes on and doggy toes to touch and wonder about and pieces of dirt (lordy me, i vacuum a million times a week) to pick up and think about eating. ...when i was little we had a refigerator box (i'm assuming we had purchased a new refrigerator - that part was unimportant to me and i therefore don't remember anything except that we had the big box) and it lived in our backyard (for a week, or until it got rained on and mushed away or until one of our parents threw it away - i don't recall) and we lived inside of it. well we didn't "live" so much as we played every game we could imagine. i remember thinking that big box was THE coolest hideout ever. it's the un-toys that become the best toys.
...and she snuggles. our baby is a sweet little snuggler. she sticks her middle and ring finger in her mouth, starts to sucks, plops the head on your chest and gives whoever is looking at her the biggest puppy dog brown eyes. precious. and she's chewing on everything and hurting because of the two bottom teeth pushing through. oh the changes and the awe of life that is within her and about her that i could go on and on about. instead, just enjoy these few new pictures.

she has a poker face - this is her thinking face - she really did enjoy the ride. and the swim. she giggled with excitement once her toes got to touch the water.

she's a ham for the camera. say 'cheese' and she's all smiles.
umm, hi. i'm gonna eat this bottle of sunscreen, ok? ;)

peekaboo. todd was playing with loralai as she was trying to crawl over the seat to get to him.

her belly and heart.

in proverbs 31, it says this about a woman of noble character (humor me, read all of it).

10 [c] A wife of noble character who can find?

She is worth far more than rubies.
11 Her husband has full confidence in her

and lacks nothing of value.
12 She brings him good, not harm,

all the days of her life.
13 She selects wool and flax

and works with eager hands.
14 She is like the merchant ships,

bringing her food from afar.
15 She gets up while it is still dark;

she provides food for her family

and portions for her servant girls.
16 She considers a field and buys it;

out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
17 She sets about her work vigorously;

her arms are strong for her tasks.
18 She sees that her trading is profitable,

and her lamp does not go out at night.

19 In her hand she holds the distaff

and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
20 She opens her arms to the poor

and extends her hands to the needy.
21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household;

for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
22 She makes coverings for her bed;

she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is respected at the city gate,

where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them,

and supplies the merchants with sashes.
25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;

she can laugh at the days to come.
26 She speaks with wisdom,

and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
27 She watches over the affairs of her household

and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children arise and call her blessed;

her husband also, and he praises her:
29 "Many women do noble things,

but you surpass them all."
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;

but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
31 Give her the reward she has earned,

and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

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when you stay at home and your day job changes to mom and wife, you start to reconsider your priorities. i think i would have reconsidered my priorities once loralai was born (or at least i hope) regardless of whether or not i stayed at home with her, but because i did i've been forced into looking at my "role" a little differently now. so in case you didn't know, we aren't rich. financially rich, i mean. Lord knows we're insanely blessed. but financially we aren't in competition with people who don't blink twice at buying bananas at 89cent a pound or people who don't flinch to travel on weekends when gas is pushing $4 and $5 a gallon. we aren't poor or broke but we definitely pay attention to the dollars we spend. and lately, because of the missing additional income (via me) and because the economy is so trying, i've tried to think of ways to be a little bit more frugal.

and then i started thinking about what God calls me to do, or be, as a wife and a mother. and when i read proverbs 31 tonight, i was reminded of my calling. when i complain about doing the fourth load of laundry while i'm watching the olympics - i need to shut my mouth and smile. God didn't call men to do laundry and cook and clean and nurture and wipe boogies and remember when the tylenol needs to be given or to check twice to make sure diapers are in the bag or to make sure that the baby will have her coat in case it's cool or an extra shirt in case she spits up or to make sure the hair is washed, lotion is put on, food is ready for dinner, dishes are clean for eating on and there is enough milk to go around for everyone. no. God made men completely capable of doing all of these things but he gave the nurturing, tending to, cleaning, picking up after, teaching, and nursing role to the women. if you scoff at what i say, take it up with God - he made the rules, i just repeat them.

so when loralai started eating solid foods, i realized something. Gerber is making a killin' on baby food. 5ounces of apple sauce cost a dollar. you have GOT to be kidding me! the same goes for carrots, peas, sweet potatos, etc. and even more, they're packaged ever so preciously in these tiny little plastic or glass containers that get thrown directly into the garbage after use. so not only are we throwing away our money on food that can be made for less, we're throwing away our resources.

i realize how impressionable the decisions i make are on loralai. and i realize that the wisdom or ignorance that i portray will help form her heart. because i was made by God and for God, i want to try hard to be the woman he says that i can be - that he made me to be.

so the other night, my lamp burned late and i finished feeding the baby, washing the baby, lotioning her, loving her, nursing her, put her to bed and then it was off to the kitchen. i had food to make. i bought 1 bag of frozen peas ($1.60), 1 bag of frozen carrots ($1.60) and two sweet potatos ($1.00). i steamed the frozen veggies, baked the potatos, pureed them with water in my mini food processor, poured them into ice cube trays, covered with plastic wrap and in the morning i found beautiful glorious FOOD. baby food. for cheap. healthy baby food for cheap. oh glory glory glory! thank you God for creating me with a thrifty heart and for gifting me with a mini food processor to make baby food! we figured it up and we ended up saving $10 with the amount of food i was able to make from those two bags and two potatos. and don't you know that our baby LOVES the food.

so here's to one of the first outward reflections of God's transformation of me becoming the woman he called me to be. and here's to saving money and the environment :)

and just for the curious people - it only took an hour to do everything. that one hour allows for nearly a week's worth of food (each cube in the ice tray equals 1ounce of food) and while i pureed todd hung out with me. so it was a really nice time to just be together and know that we were doing something good for our family and our finances. and one more thing - fruit. you can't make pureed fruit easily - it won't keep (unless you keep ascorbic acid in your pantry). so i just bought a large jar unsweetened apple sauce and i'm buying pear sauce and pureed bananas via Gerber until loralai's teeth grow in - then i'll just smoosh up pears or really ripe bananas for her to eat.

home again. home again.

wheew i'm tired.

i drove to greenville (hometown) friday night. i tried to time it so that loralai would sleep while i drove - you know, like settle in for the night in the car. right. bad idea. only she didn't let me know it was going to be a bad idea until about 15 minutes into the drive. that's when the crying started - 20 minutes later i breathed a sigh of relief when she fell asleep. but 45 minutes later when she woke up, i knew i was in for it b/c i still had an hour left in the trip. and there i was, alone with a crying baby. my baby. and there wasn't a thing in this world i could do. she was just p.o.'d that her mama had her in the car and not her crib. this baby love love loves to sleep in her crib. the car, not so much. but we made it to greenville - alive. and me, a little less sane.

todd went to the mountains to be w/ his family. his sister's getting married in november and this was the only weekend all of the men of the family could get together to do a bachelor weekend, of sorts. it was just a bummer that it happened to be the weekend that my brother's wife was being induced to have their baby - their third - a girl - finally! they have two little boys - precious. and this third little babe - oh, what a sweetie. she's so precious and just girlie girl girl. i think she's gonna look like her mama. time will tell.

our weekend and week ended up being really great - despite the start. loralai ended up settling in easily at her gigi's. and she started all sorts of new stuff: she loves food now - oh how she opens that trap wide like a little birdie. and now she doesn't reach for the spoon to push it away. now she reaches to bring it closer to her lips - or "yips" as my nephew wyatt would say. he's sure to tell me that his new little sister, carly, can't eat food yet b/c she just has yips and a tongue.
loralai is also really really loving her super cold teethers b/c she's growing her very first - very sharp - tooth. i can't even imagine what her smile is going to look like with teeth. i'm totally amazed at how fast i feel like she's growing. it seems like just yesterday all of her could fit in my two arms. and now it takes all of my two arms just to keep her above my waist. and, it's going to continue to take all of my arms and my legs and my energy to follow her while she crawls - b/c that's the next feat on her list of things to do. and she practiced hard while we were in greenville. she followed turner and wyatt anywhere they were - and then she went after maddie dog. she wasn't so sure about the whole moving baby thing. i think the dogs feel a little ripped off - i mean it was one thing that we brought home a crying baby who needed all of our attention. but at least the baby was out of their way - now their territory is the back bedroom - they hide back there and run for peace and quiet.

here are a few pictures of the past few days. it's been a good time. more writing later. for now - it's bedtime. yea i know - it's only 8:00, but this mama is pooped. (and oh yea - loralai slept on the way home today. wheew.)

the sweet new addition: carly elizabeth

our excited squealing baby in her bikini.
you should hear the sound that comes from this mouth. it's hilarious.
she fell so in love with her cousins: turner and wyatt.
workin' at the crawling.
loralai with the boys.

.giggles.

if you need a little lift, watch this.

i know the time of day when loralai starts in with her giggles. it's usually about 4:30 or 5p.m. ...she gets a major bout of the giggles that time of day. i call it her happy hour. it really is the best. it always gives me a new boost of energy to finish the day.




giggles from ashley dengler on Vimeo.