The last 4 months...

Our little man has been with us for 4 MONTHS now! Wow! It's really gone by quickly! He has changed so much! He is a much bigger fan of his Yoda toy, and he even puts up with his mom taking silly pictures of him (on occasion).

(Will at 1 week old. Not a Yoda fan.)

(Will at 4 months. He and Yoda are one.)

He is such a smiley boy and very curious, loves looking around and observing everything going on around him with his big blue eyes. He is "talking" more and more everyday, often waking up from naps to chat with himself for up to 15 minutes before going back to sleep. He thinks his daddy and mommy are hilarious (but then again, who doesn't?), and often squeals with delight when we play with him. He also loves grabbing things and putting them in his mouth and has made several failed attempts at doing so with my chin. (He's very determined, so I'm sure he will figure it out very soon.) He has a knack for spitting up when we are least prepared, which tests our ninja spit up catching skills. (Yes, Nathan got spit up on the face already. We now where plastic ponchos during playtime.) He loves to cuddle, play on his new gym, chew on plastic rings, and fart like a man. Every little part of him is loved!!

A delicious recipe and a HUGE oopsie...

On Saturday, I decided to make myself a delicious pumpkin smoothie. I got the idea from a friend and changed it around a little to suit my taste. Here's the recipe:

1/2 can pureed pumpkin

1 cup frozen peaches

1 cup milk (I use vanilla almond milk, but you can use your milk of choice)

couple shakes of cinnamon and ginger OR pumpkin spice

(add honey or agave as desired)

** TIP: I like the pumpkin to be cold and slushy, rather than room temp, so I put the can in the freezer for a day, and then in the fridge for a day. But if you can't do this, just add ice with ingredients listed above.

So I was getting ready for my delicious pumpkin treat! I got out all the ingredients, opened the can of pumpkin, then picked it up to start scooping it out ... and that's when my hand slipped. The lid totally sliced my right thumb.

Thank you, Jesus, for an easy baby. Will just played on his playmat while Nathan wrapped my finger, and I cried, and we called a friend to babysit, and we took breast milk out of the freezer, and I cried, and we rushed to the ER, and I cried. UGH!

Thank you, Jesus, for helpful friends and family. Our friend rushed right over to watch Will, and then my mother in-law came over for the rest of the night. I got 5 stitches and a giant bandage on my right thumb for my trouble.



The first day the pain was seriously ridiculous. Worse then my whole birth experience, but that's not saying much since I really had the most pain-free c-section and recovery in the world. My thumb felt like I was in a cartoon. You know, when they slam their thumb, and it swells up larger than their head and throbs red with pain. Exactly like that. Day two was much better, only cartoon-like throbbing in the morning. I don't get the stitches out for 10 days. For the next couple weeks, I can't immerse my hand in water (no washing dishes, etc.), and I have to wear a plastic bag over my hand in the shower. This is an extremely inconvenient time for me to be so clumsy. I have a 3 month old to care for! Seriously...Thank you again, Jesus, for giving this clumsy mama an easy baby.

Here we go again...

Well, it's painfully obvious that I'm terrible at blogging. I do well for a period of time, but then life takes over. I never get to it. So here I go again, taking a stab at this blog thing, if only to organize my thoughts about being a wife and stay-at-home mom in sunny Southern California.

Our wonderful Will!

Will has been with us now for 3 1/2 months, and it seems like forever! In fact, it was this very weekend, one year ago that Nathan and I discovered we were expecting a baby. We spent most of the last fantastic year with our friends in Peoria and then made a sudden and quick move back to SoCal in October. Now we're settling in so close to our amazing family just in time for the holidays.

So what have we been up to in the last year? Well, I took a job at our church in Peoria, Richwoods Christian Church, as the Children's Ministry Director for their new multi-site in East Peoria. I started there in September 2010 and helped launch the new campus in January 2011. I love working with the amazing staff and volunteers, meeting so many new people in East Peoria and serving their families in the Children's Ministry. I worked there until July 2011 when I stepped down to be a stay-at-home mom!

We were so looking forward to the arrival of our little guy in August. I had a really easy pregnancy, and Nathan and I even had some fun weekend get-aways during those nine months, just enjoying our time alone together before we met our little man. Then on August 6, he joined our family at 7 pounds, 3 ounces and 18.5 inches. We were so excited to see his big blue eyes staring up at us and a head full of red hair!



We spent the first few weeks with family visiting us in Peoria and just trying to get a handle on this whole parenthood thing. Just when we thought it might all be settling down, Nathan got a job back in southern California! And there we were, with a 5-week-old planning a move in just 3 weeks! It's crazy how fast it went, and now we are living "back home" once again.

Our little guy has been growing so fast in this California sun! He's 3 1/2 months old and is very calm and happy. He loves to sit in his swing and play in his play gym. He thinks Nathan and I are hilarious (but then again, who doesn't). He is laughing more and more everyday. He loves "talking" to his grandparents and cuddling with his aunts and uncles. He just celebrated his first Thanksgiving with the whole family, and it just brought tears to my eyes. I couldn't believe how unbelievably blessed we are, to have each other, plus this beautiful boy, PLUS this amazing family, AND we get to live near one another again!

This year has been a great one, and I'm so excited for the year to come! Let's see who this little man turns out to be.