One Month

Little Zoe turned a month old today!!! I can't believe she's been with us for a month and yet it feels like she's always been here.

Taken by her Grammie

This month has been a learning opportunity for both of us.
Zoe has learned to:
*Take a pacifier (mostly)
*Pull mommy's hair (not mommy's favorite)
*Feed very well (and we've finally learned to space this out more)
*Roll onto her side (she's been doing this since she was 2 weeks old)

*Flip herself onto her back during tummy time (it's happened twice already)
*Hold her head up (she rarely rests her head on our shoulders now)

Taken by Grammie

Mommy has learned:
*How to nurse more proficiently and more confidently (it was hard to do this around others before, but I've gotten better at using my nursing cover).
*Give Zoe smooches often (it's just a requirement)
*To type with one hand again
*To do most things one handed
*That sometimes it's ok to let her cry for 2 minutes while doing something that requires 2 hands (like slicing the homemade bread)
*That we have the best friends in the world who have been doing laundry for us since we don't have a washer and dryer right now. (hooray for no laundromat)
*To sit in the backseat of the car, hold the pacifier in with one finger and stroke Zoe's cheek with the other to get her to calm down. (this usually works, sometimes however, you just get to pull over and nurse in a parking lot.)
*To take off socks during diaper changes.

We've both done a lot of learning this month.  The biggest thing we've learned is that we love one another very much.  I can't believe she's only been here for a month and how much I love her.  I don't mind letting others hold her, but sometimes, after a while of not holding her myself I just think, "I want to hold her again, I miss her."  I'm sure this is even harder for daddy.  He makes sure to snuggle her other times though.  Last night he decided to let her fall asleep on his chest when we went to bed.  Such a special time for them both and for me so I could get some good sleep too.

So thankful for our little girl and the precious time we have with her right now.  I may be tired often, but it's totally worth it to take in this wonderful stage in her life.  We are so grateful to our wonderful Father who has given us this perfect little gift!  All almost 10 lbs of her!

although out of focus, one of my favorite photos!

Zoe 1 Week

Out little girl turned a week old on Saturday!  I can't believe she's been here for a week already and yet it feels like she's always been here.  This past Tuesday was rough for me because of hormones.  Every time I thought of  Aaron I cried.  He had to work all day that day.  Other than that though it has been a pretty great first week with our little girl.  She had one night where she was up 10x in 8 hours.  That was not fun, however, most nights I'm only up feeding her 2-3 times which is great.  She makes up for it during the day time though.  I think Zoe sees mama as an all you can eat buffet.  =P

Valerie, our midwife, and Zoe when she was born.  She looks so big!

Grammie and Zoe

Aunt Kristin and Zoe

Aunt Courtney & Zoe

Aunt Sarah & Zoe

PapPap and Zoe

Mongel and Zoe

Grandpa and Zoe

This one makes me almost cry, just love the expression on Daddy's face. 

My mom, Mongel, was with us from Tuesday - Saturday which was a huge help and we were so thankful for that!  Throughout the week we've had visits from Grammie, Grandpa, PapPap, Aunt Kristin, Aunt Courtney, Aunt Sarah & Trent, Aunt Eve & Uncle Cork, Nan, Uncle Buddy, Liz & Frank, and Sky & Andrew.  Sky and Andrew have been so awesome and are doing our laundry for us, such a blessing because we don't have a washer & dryer in our apartment.  Oh and they brought us a tasty dinner.

Zoe is so loved and she's only a week old.

Such a big yawn.

Our big one week old little girl:

(This was the best one I took.  I took about 50 and she was just not super cooperative.)

Zoe is Here

This post is going to be short because our little girl is a hungry one and eats all the time ;).  

Our little Bundle of Joy, Zoe, arrived Saturday, January 28th, 2012 at 2:02 am.  It was a long labor for mama, but she is so incredibly precious I wouldn't do anything different. She was 8 lbs 8 oz and 21 inches long. 

Photo by my Mother-in-Love Holly. 

A Post a Long Time in the Making

I have previously mentioned my love of the Duggars.  They are the family that has the show 19 Kids and Counting on TLC.  We don't have cable, but I do like to watch the show on youtube.  Who doesn't love youtube?

Anyway, I know that we are to aspire to be Christlike and that is what I see in this family.  Aaron and I want to emulate them as they emulate Christ.  In watching the show, I'm convinced that if God would allow us I would love to have a huge family.  It just seems more Biblical to me.  I have been learning a lot lately that I don't really like monkeying around with the way God made things.  One of the things that means for us is that we are already praying about the timing of our second child and that we would have that child in God's timing.  This is exactly what the Duggars have done.  Please read this to understand why I make this claim.

Something I greatly respect about the Duggars, is that they teach their children the Scriptures very early on.  If you look at the family page on their website, each of the children (except the very youngest) have a favorite scripture verse on there.  We are hoping to teach our children to love the scriptures as well.

Aaron and I have also been praying for quite some time that God would show us what to do about entertainment.  We've been feeling for a while that it might be time to throw out some of those movies from our BC (Before Christ) days.  And somehow just knowing where the Duggars stand on the issue of entertainment helps to encourage me at least.

Also, Aaron and I hope to homeschool.  Sometimes I wonder if I'll be able to make it work, and then I look at this family with 19 kids that HAS made it work.  Praise God!  And much of the curriculum they recommend are things we would want to use as well.  We believe it is so important that our children are taught a correct view of history and science, one that does not exclude our Creator.  Much of the curriculum available today does just that, which is why we want to home school.  We have been told that if we home school our children will suffer by not having enough social interaction.  Watching this show has proven to me this is simply not true.  There are home schooling conferences you can go to.  You get to decide what field trips to take your children on.  And we have a lot of pregnant friends right now, there is always the church community!  We pray that our children will get to grow up in a church family that is supportive and tight knit.

One of the most amazing things to me, is that because of the way the Duggars love each other, most of their kids want large families, and often the girls want to be stay at home moms.  That's such an encouragement to me.  I hope we can foster the kind of home environment that would lead to our children wanting that as well.

Just take a look at this video to understand more:

Ok, enough of my praising the Duggars.  If you want to know more you can go to their website www.duggarfamily.com, check out their show, or read one of their books.

Recent Readings

Recently I've been reading some books from our midwife, Valerie.  I know I say it all the time but we just love her.  She's the best! 

I have not read all of the books completely because I read enough to know if I thought we should get the books or not. One of those books was Back to Eden by Jethro Kloss.  This book was awesome in that he teaches you how God intended us to deal with illnesses.  He talks about how most of the time, our diseases/conditions can be dealt with by the creation God has given us.  I really hope to get this book in the future.  

The other book that I read completely is Male Practice by Dr. Robert S. Mendelsohn.  Wow was that a great read.  It made me angry, in a good way.  Although written in 1982, I think there are so absolutely critical lessons we can take away from that book. Unfortunately I already gave it back to our midwife or I would have quoted some of the sections.  I am not one to read "science" type books very often, but I couldn't put this one down.  It was so good and so informative. 

I've also spent some time reading up on various topics from the website Mothering.com.  It's been so fun to do so.  You should check it out!  I'm not sure I'd try it but I read this interesting article about using seashells in your bra instead of nursing pads basically. 

And then there's this fascinating one about how baby's already know how to breastfeed. 

And now that I've finished reading the books that were more "required reading,"  I have finally started reading Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy.  I got it for my birthday but had been trying to get my "baby" reading in first.  It's so good! I'm only 20 pages in but am thoroughly enjoying it.  

What have you been reading lately? 

Different

I have never been one that has cared a lot about politics.  I didn't really understand them, didn't see the point in listening to debates, thought that they were far too boring.  Aaron and I started researching more about our country's history.  We have watched the American Heritage Series by David Barton and that had really sparked my interest in history and politics.  David Barton is criticized by some as be a "Revisionist Historian."  However, that is simply not the case.  He goes back and sites the original documents of our Founding Fathers, you know, the ones who helped frame this country.

After watching those videos, Aaron started looking more into Ron Paul.  As a result, I got to watch a lot of Ron Paul videos as well.  After reading a lot of his material on his website www.ronpaul2012.com, I realized that I agree with almost everything he has to say.  I recently disagreed with something he said in a debate but it's been so rare that it's a welcome change.  He is the only statesman we have left.  If you haven't looked into Ron Paul yet, I urge you to do so.  He's served in Congress for 12 terms and REFUSES to take a congressional pension. When he becomes president, instead of taking the $400,000/year that is currently the salary, he wants to take what the average American makes, $39,336.  He also actually wants to get us back to the Constitution which made our nation so great in the beginning.

I realize that our country cannot turn itself around by a leader only.  I think this country is in DESPERATE need of a spiritual revival.  I pray that God would bring revival to this nation.  I think that one way that may be possible is through the election of Ron Paul.  I'm not saying it will happen that way, but I pray that if it is God's will Ron Paul will be elected and because he is a believer that hopefully there will be a change in this nation.

If you'd like to learn more, please watch these videos.  They are some of the best ones I've seen.

Tickle Me Tuesday: Future Inspiration

Lately, as I sit around waiting for our little one to arrive, I've had more time to scour Pinterest.  I try not to spend a ton of time on there, but boy is it helpful for inspiration for home projects and recipes.  We also recently found out that we're probably going to have to move, like, before April.  Our landlord and his family are trying to fix up the place we currently live in.  In that process they are going to be removing the old siding (containing lead paint), the old windows (the sills contain lead paint) and remodeling our bathroom.  So, they have a smaller little house right next to our landlord that he suggested we move into.  Aaron is still not super sold on the idea.  Neither of us like the layout very much, however, I do like that it's off the main road, and that we'd not have neighbors to worry about.  That would be so helpful.  It's not that I don't like neighbors, it's just that right now we have the top floor of a house and sound travels too easily between the top and bottom floors.  With a newborn this could become a problem.  So anyway, because we might be moving, I have been looking up some nursery type ideas. Here are a few that have been tickling my fancy lately.

Add  spice racks to either side of a dresser for a book shelf that saves space. Brilliant!

Source

An old entertainment stand turned baby storage area/changing table.  

I couldn't find the original source 

Wouldn't this be such an awesome bookshelf???

Source

And I would love to have chalkboard paint in our house some day. 

Source

Linking Up with Sarah for Tickle Me Tuesday!