Update

Evelyn is 5 months today - I can hardly believe it! She is getting so strong - I bet she will be sitting up in no time. She "flicks" herself back though when she sits - this scares me, as my arms or the Boppy pillow won't always be there to cushion her fall!
Jason started his new job last Monday. He liked it. It is very different that what he used to do - much less creative. But, he thinks that he will grow to enjoy the job, that he will be able to learn new things, and that the position will be less stressful. The largest benefits to his new position are the flexible hours - he just needs to put in 40 hours per week - and the availability of overtime. His previous position required 45 hours. The new company encourages overtime because they are so busy, and so even if Jason continued working 45 hours a week that he is used to, the 5 hours of overtime pay would be very helpful for our budget.

Last week I stayed a few nights with Jason at the B&B that he is staying at and the others at my mom's house. The woman who runs the B&B is very nice. It turns out that she left for Mexico last week and will not be back until mid-March! So, other than Jason and one other guest who stays two nights for work purposes, the place is empty! The owner said that Evelyn and I are welcome to stay with him whenever we want and that we can all even stay on weekends! Praise the Lord! It is so great to have the option to be with him during the week and be in a "home" setting with a kitchen and living area to use.

So, I called and gave my notice at work since I will be spending time in the new city during our transition. My last day is Friday! This will relieve so much stress from me. Trying to work 20 hours a week from home has proven to be much more work thank I had anticipated. We are hoping and praying that our budget will work out so that I won't have to work in the new city.

We did put on offer in on a home in the new city - contingent upon our home selling. We'll see what they think about it - it was quite a bit lower than the asking price.

No offers yet on our home. We have had two second showings and one couple still interested, yet they are trying to sell their own home before putting in an offer. God has worked out all of the other details "to a T," so we know He'll work out this whole house thing.

Friends have been SO gracious this week to me as I am home alone with Evelyn. Two dinner invites already! I am so blessed to have such great friends! My one friend lent me the Bumbo chair that Evelyn is sitting in. She is hanging out in it now as I type. Leaving behind my friends here will be the hardest part - I have made so many great friends here. But, with good friends, no matter how much time passes, you can pick up right where you left off!

We will keep you all posted! Thanks again for all of the prayers!

More Cute Pics

Cousins! Evelyn loved meeting Sophia and is SO excited to be best friends with her!

Pretty in roses!

Bundled Up

It is hard to tell in the pictures, but she totally reminded me of the little boy in "A Christmas Story" who gets so bundled up that he waddles!

The Cutie Pie

I am grooming her for the love of laundry!
Hoodies on babies are cute, but oh-so-impractical!
Only rolls on a baby are cute! I love her little nudie lotioned up body after a bath!

One-handed Talent!

I have been thinking a lot lately about how many things I have learned to do with one hand. Things that I often (almost daily) do with one hand due to nursing or simply holding Evelyn (she loves to watch me do just about anything!):
-Laundry
-Cooking (I can't really cut much with only one hand. I tried very hard the other day to cut a tomato while holding her - it did not work. Too dangerous!)
-Makeup application
-Typing (especially work emails that must get out and blog comments - I treat myself to reading blogs sometimes while I nurse.)
-Making the bed
-Pouring a glass of water

These seem to be the main things that I can think of right now. I think they're pretty good accomplishments. I do wear my Baby Bjorn a lot. I couldn't live without the thing! And, my sling arrived. She needs to get a little bigger before it works for the "hip" hold - I think I will love it then.

What can you do one-handed?

Family Pic

God has truly blessed me as a husband! Today was one of those days when for some reason I saw things through a different lens. I have to just stand back and tell God thank you for blessing me and my family so much. I couldn't have asked for a better wife...and our little Evelyn is so precious. Sometimes I sit back and wonder what I did to deserve such a beautiful wife and daughter and house...and then I realize...it wasn't anything I did. God's grace and mercy are what happened. I'm so thankful for where He's brought us from...and where He's taking us to! Our God is good!

Posing for the Camera

A friend who is gifted with photography came over today to take some family pictures. I am so excited to see them and share them with you all! I think we got some great shots.

There are times each day that I wish I had a camera in my eyes so that I could capture them!

Times like...
Evelyn on the changing table just staring at her open hand in front of her face - she has realized how interesting it is!

Getting Evelyn from her swing after a nap. She waves her little arms and kicks her little legs in delight. She has the biggest open mouth grin on her face. This makes me feel so loved, so special, so needed. Some of the best feelings - ever.

Evelyn waking up in the morning - bright-eyed, smiling, yet so calm and mellow.

Evelyn in Daddy's arms - just "chillin'" or drifted away in slumber.

I hope the camera in my mind never forgets these sights!

What's in the mail today?

I have always enjoyed getting the mail. Usually there is primarily junk mail, but the days when we receive "personal" mail are so great! My favorite types of mail: of course, any handwritten letter or note (sadly, myself included, these are rare in the age of email); a letter from our Compassion International sponsored child in Ethiopia; birthday cards; Christmas cards; things you buy online (with internet at home and a baby,this is becoming so much more appealing and occurs more often!); and for me, the bargain shopper, COUPONS!*** Jason (bless his heart) pays all of our bills and most of them he pays online. This makes mail more fun, too, as you don't feel inundated with bills coming everyday! ***I am sure that this use of the semi-colon was incorrect; as I know "listing" after a colon is usually done with a comma. But, I am finding that I love run-on sentences and descriptions, further needing to use more commas, and I felt that all those commas would get confusing! :-)

Speaking of internet shopping, guess what items we purchased that I am SO excited for?!?!


This is a Peanut Shell sling that I won on Ebay. I am very excited to get it because Evelyn is enjoying starting to sit on my hip (her little legs are a bit small still) and I know that this will be great to use. She loves to be held, and I love holding her! The Baby Bjorn has been a lifesaver, but I am ready to give her a new view and be able to "tummy up" to the sink, stove, etc. using the sling and hip carry position. I researched some "ring slings," but I think that not having a tail will be nice and I loved the modern prints that these came in. Priority Mail won't be fast enough!
Little Evelyn is going to love this thing! We have put her in them other places and she loves it. She does not really like to lie on the floor - she likes to be up and with the big people! Walmart's free "site to store" shipping has worked great for us in the past. But, we have been waiting two weeks already for this... Maybe today will be the day that it comes in!

Firsts - Installment #5

This worked out so great - Evelyn just had a "first" and I happened to be on a kick of blogging about "firsts!"

Enjoy!!!

Firsts - Installment #4

We are in the process of selling our first house.

(Yes, the sign is crooked. We had a TON of snow and Jason just went out yesterday since a lot of it melted and fixed the sign with a borrowed sledge hammer!)

We are very excited to be moving, although the timing was completely not what we had planned.

Flashback to two years ago...Jason and I sat in our car driving up the street to this very house for a showing. He asked me if we should forget about buying a home and just pack up and move to the city we knew we wanted to make our roots in. We had looked at SO many houses and none were what we wanted. We knew it was a pivotal time - move to desired city across the entire state, or stay here and buy a home to make an investment. We ended up liking this home (finally one we liked - the poor Realtor showed us over 40) and decided that it was God's way of showing us that He wanted us here. Jason also felt that he needed a little more experence before he could look for another job. We did not know how long we would live in this town, but we assumed it would be at least five years or until our kids started school.

Back to the present...After Evelyn was born, I desperately missed my family. They are a 5 1/2 - 6 hours drive away. It was very hard for me that they weren't around. I have also always felt bad that I don't ever get to see my little brothers and sisters in their school programs, dance competitions, etc. Jason saw me shed many tears in my hormonal flux postpartum period(moms - you know what having a baby does to your emotions!) And, he had been hoping for some changes at work that he did not see occuring. Jason told me that he was going to start networking in the city that we wanred to move to - change up our "plan" a bit and look at moving within the next year or so. I was thrilled! One thing led to another and Jason actually went for an interview. He accepted the position in mid-December and he starts on January 21st!

We put our house "for sale by owner" for about a week immediately after and then got realisitic and started working with a Realtor. If we had more time to wait, we would have stuck with FSBO, but we want to move as soon as possible. God did work out the detail though that she is not charging a full commission, just a flat fee for listing and assisting us. We host our own open houses and schedule our own showings.

We really had no action at all until last Sunday's open house where seven couples and a Realtor came through. One couple did a second showing last night and they are very interested but not quite ready to put in an offer, as they are just putting their own house for sale. We hope things continue quickly as I will continue to live in our house until it sells. Jason has arranged through contacts from his new company to stay at a B&B during the week. Oh how we will miss him during the week!!!

We are starting to look online for houses in the new city and think we might be able to find something for less money and thus allow me to quit working! That would be SO awesome! The city/area we are moving to is about an hour's drive from the border of my home state and is the perfect halfway point between both Jason's parents who live in the middle of our state, and my two sets of parents that live in my home state. I also graduated from college in the city, so I have four years of experience living there, friends there still, and know of at least two churches there that we would love to attend! Plus, I am excited because, unlike the small town we live in now, the new city has: a mall, TJ Maxx, Borders, a theatre that has traveling shows come through, a great community theatre group, a dinner theatre, the University - which offers so many entertainment opportunities, and much more! Plus, there is virtually no traffic! I always said that you can always give yourself 15 minutes for driving time and you can be anywhere that you want to in that city!

We are also looking forward to family being able to more easily come see us - less bag packing and more nights in our own bed! We are putting roots down and are extremely excited about it.

So, thank you to all who have already been praying for us. Please continue to pray that our home sells quickly, for us to find a new home at a great price, for Jason as he travels during the interim, and for me as I hold down the fort alone.

A major "first" this is!

Firsts - Installment #3

Warning: Pictures in this post might be considered graphic to some...
I am not usually one who discusses bodily functions, but since becoming a mom, I have found that when Jason calls me or asks about my day, I often have to tell him about Evelyn's diapers for the day! Since I have gone back to work, this has lessened, but it still happens.

Now comes the day where I am doing a poo post... Not just an ordinary poo post; but a post about the BIGGEST EXPLOSION (hence, a "first") that I think I have ever witnessed (and I have changed many diapers between having eight siblings, babysitting, nannying, and working at two daycares). The other day, Evelyn managed to not only have her usual explosion up most of her back, but she managed to explode down her ENTIRE leg, too! There was baby poo that filled the little back of the snap at her ankle! She is very "regular" and this was not after some long bout of not going - she had gone a few hours before and again the next morning!

It gave me a great laugh! Thank goodness for soak pails of OxyClean!



Evelyn's outfit - see the poo in the snap hole?

The onesie. I spared you all pics of the actual diaper itself that was completely filled. She is in the right sized diaper too - she is 14lbs 3oz and the diapers are supposed to be up to 18lbs!

Adorable Evelyn after the bath she desperately needed after the explosion. She looks relieved, wouldn't you say?

Sorry to any of you that think this is gross! Part of the life of a mostly SAHM! :-)

~Amber

Firsts - Installment #2

I became an Auntie on my side for the first time!

Congratulations to my sister, Brittany, on the birth of her daughter, Sophia Faith. Sophia was born on December 28th weighing in at 6 lbs 4 oz - 2 ounces less than Evelyn!

Mommy and baby are doing great! I look forward to meeting my first niece in two weeks!

Firsts - Installment #1

We bought our first MINIVAN! I say "first," because I can only assume we will have to purchase at least one more. My dad found us a good deal and we sold one of our Tauruses (or as we called them, the "Tauri") and are very happy with our purchase.
In fact, we are pretty much convinced that we would not have made it on our 5 1/2 hour journey to celebrate Christmas without it! Yes, that is a full van WITHOUT the back seats!


Not only is the van helpful in carting all of our stuff around, I find is simply wonderful for traveling with an infant. If she is sleeping or content, I can sit in the front with Jason. If she is discontent, I can hop in the back. And, it is much easier to nurse and change diapers in at the many random gas stations that we stop at.

And lastly, I think I have only had to visit the chiropractor once since we got it! It is helping my back with how easy it is to put the carseat into.

Thank you to the inventor of the minivan!

Stay tuned for future installments of "Firsts!"

She brings us so much JOY!

Evelyn laughing while I amuse her (Notes: I did not know that I was in the picture. Jason is the Photoshop king, thus I did not zoom in on her. Blogger rotated this pic...I can't seem to quickly figure out how to fix it - Evelyn is sleeping and I want to finish the post!)

Evelyn brings us so much joy! I try to take a few minutes every day to soak her in. I just told Jason yesterday how I love the stage she is in right now and would be just fine if she didn't grow anymore! We are mastering how to make her giggle - so much fun - she has THE cutest little laugh! She is also very "into" talking to her favorite toys. She has a new, throatier, way of talking that she is experimenting with, too. She loves to "dance" with us - as we wiggle her trunk while holding her hands, and "run it out" as we run with her legs while the other person holds her. She is also getting great at sitting up on our laps and on the floor with assistance. Our big girl!

Poor girl, her first cold turned into an ear infection. I am glad that my mother's intuition led me to bring her in on Monday instead of an emergency room trip yesterday or something. The bummer was that our doc was on vacation. I didn't care for the one on call. Oh well, she is on an antibiotic and I think is getting better. She wouldn't even nurse on the left side because her right ear hurt so bad.

I hope that these pics bring you all some of the joy we experience daily!

Our New Family Portrait

Our "family" Christmas Eve 2006 - I was thinking and hoping that Evelyn was growing inside of me... I found out that she was 5 days later!


Our Family portrait Christmas Eve 2007!!! Evelyn wasn't ready to smile - after being away from home for four days, she was a little out of sorts and was seriously lacking in sleep. She was fighting a cold, too. Poor thing! Jason and I were also not feeling the best. I think you would have to agree that we look a little more "well rested" in last year's pic!

Christmas 2007 was great - especially because Evelyn is here with us! The only thing that I missed was going to church. We used to attend an 11:00 p.m. Christmas Eve service, but that was not conducive with Evelyn. Maybe next year?...?