Oh, How Much You've Grown!

I recently dug out a new toy that I received at one of my baby showers. It's one of those Activity Stations. This one is pretty unique in that it has a detachable seat that spins and rotates around the activity center. When Well, baby James, aka Flying Baby, just LOVES it! I put him in it for the first time, and he just went nuts. The coolest thing is that he has figured out how to walk around it while in the seat, so little by little he pushes with his feeble little legs and actually makes a full rotation. He's such a smart little dude.

It's just so amazing how much he's grown in 6 short months. From being so small and needing an IV in the NICU


to now where he's able to hold his head up and stand on mommy's lap while holding onto my hands.


I am so amazingly blessed to be his mommy. I just love watching him grow, and he gets to be more and more fun everyday. God really did think this out, even to the most minute detail. I mean, what will He show me next. Thank goodness babies don't come out of the womb knowing everything. How boring would that be!

Give Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope that yours was a blessed and wonderful one. Our little family had a lovely time with my parents and grandparents. Here is a beautiful picture that a friend took of our family. There's my dad and mom in the back on the left, myself, hubby, and James on the right, and then my grandparents (my mom's parents) in the front. Isn't that a great picture? Everyone was smiling and looking at the camera at the same time, even baby James too!

A Loss For Words

Ever since I have become a mom, my memory has been less than perfect. I think that after delivering my son the doctors must have taken part of my brain. Along with losing my mind, I seem to not have as great of a vocabulary as I once did. Or at least I can't say what I mean with the right words. Just like this weekend after attending our Saturday church service.

We were chatting with our lovely friends, Tom and Jen, about the upcoming concert at our church to benefit the Young Life Capernum Project. One of my favorite Christian artists, Sara Groves, is going to be sharing her pianorific talents with us. Since we will be attending the church service that is before the concert, I thought we might have to leave our seats and come back in for the ushers to accept our tickets. So, I thoughtfully asked my friend, Jen, "will we have to evacuate the auditorium?" She and my husband looked at me with puzzled faces, "evacuate the auditorium?!?"

Puzzled by my own words, I tried to correct myself, but no appropriate word could hop into my brain and out my mouth. I was completely at a loss for words. My brain had just totally shut down.

Does this happen to every new mother? If it does, God should put a warning on the little baby's forehead that says, "Will Cause Permanent Brain Damage".

The Five Factor Personality Test

I found this test while reading goslyn's blog. So, I thought I'd take the test and it came out pretty accurate. Check it out!

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have low extroversion. You are quiet and reserved in most social situations. A low key, laid back lifestyle is important to you. You tend to bond slowly, over time, with one or two people. Conscientiousness: You have medium conscientiousness. You're generally good at balancing work and play. When you need to buckle down, you can usually get tasks done. But you've been known to goof off when you know you can get away with it. Agreeableness: You have high agreeableness. You are easy to get along with, and you value harmony highly. Helpful and generous, you are willing to compromise with almost anyone. You give people the benefit of the doubt and don't mind giving someone a second chance. Neuroticism: You have medium neuroticism. You're generally cool and collected, but sometimes you do panic. Little worries or problems can consume you, draining your energy. Your life is pretty smooth, but there's a few emotional bumps you'd like to get rid of. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is low. You're a pretty conservative person, and you favor what's socially acceptable. You think that change for novelty's sake is a very bad idea. While some may see this as boring, many see you as dependable and wise.

The Five Factor Personality Test

"Let's Start Over, Honey"

Well, it's been a long time since I've posted something on my blog. I guess I'm not as much of a writer as I thought. Or perhaps I just don't have as much time as I thought I did to blog as much as I thought I wanted. Or maybe I haven't experienced anything that I think is worth sharing with anyone who cares to read this. But, alas I have something!

My son was born in June, so that makes him a little over 5 months old now. The first few weeks we were home with him I had this strange and frantic feeling that I wouldn't have anything to do staying home with him.

So, in my new mom syndrome state of mind, I decided that I was going to fix up our 1st floor half bath. I made a list: new light fixture, new faucet, paint, molding, and pretty vinyl sticky-back floor tile. I was all gung-ho, and I had decided that I was going to do it all by myself and that I would have so much time on my hands because having a new baby to take care of doesn't take up that much time at all.

And, boy, was I wrong! Just ask how long those supplies sat in our hallway outside of the bathroom! Well, my husband and I got the energy to finally do everything that I had planned. And hubby would probably emphasize that it was all my plan. So, we painted and put of the fixtures and. . .ROAD BLOCK!

Supermommy: "Hmmm, hubby, how are we going to lay down the pretty vinyl tile I bought that's been sitting in the hallway for weeks? It's going to be difficult to figure out how to make those difficult cuts for it to fit around the toilet and the door frame molding"

Hubby: "Umm, I'm not really sure, Supermommy. Surely our useful Biology and Sociology degrees can help us. I mean, isn't this why we went to college?. . ."

So, the tiles were moved to a new home in the basement to sit. . . for 5 months.

Until last weekend.

I got the gumption (I just love that word!) to get out the handy dandy pry bar and start to chip away the old nasty laminate floor. I was chipping and peeling, chipping and peeling, and then when I got to the toilet I notice some black stuff. Hmm, I thought, this looks like the stuff on Extreme Home Makeover that makes people very sick. Maybe we could apply for the show and I wouldn't have to do this darn home improvement stuff myself.

Uhh. . .maybe not.

But that black stufff looked alot like mold. So I pulled out some bleach and attacked the mold with a scrub brush and it all came out. Ah, the power of bleach. But then I realized that it has probably spread under the adjacent tiles. So there I went, chipping and peeling, chipping and peeling. . . . chipping and peeling, chipping and peeling. . .man this is hard work! Maybe I should wait for hubby to help when he gets home from work.

So, I waited until he came home. We had an intellectual conversation about what we should do. Much like the one above. . .

Supermommy: "Look, hubby, at all the hard work I've done while baby is asleep."

Hubby: "Well I guess I know what we're doing this weekend."

Supermommy: "What, praytell, do you mean my darling hubby? I've decided that we are going to finally finish this bathroom this weekend. Isn't it going to be SO MUCH FUN?"

Well we finally finished laying the tile, after spending about 14 hours chipping up the rest of the tile, removing the old toilet, making several trips to Home Depot to buy supplies including a new toilet that needed to be installed because we were having company over the following day. And after several bouts of spousal bickering and saying "let's start over, honey" we were done!

I don't know about you, but for us, home improvement sure brings out the worst in us. We end up spending a third of the time fighting about how we should do things and who does what etc. etc. It would be a perfect world if we could just call a contractor and have them do it for free.

But what's the fun in that?!

Well. . .back to my mothering duties. Until next time. . .