In Our Neck of the Woods

Things are good - just busy!

Last week flew by...I can't even remember the highlights.

The weekend was fun. Friday started off with a bang - I started a new Bible study at a local church. It is a Beth Moore study for women on the book of Daniel. Great study! I am learning a lot and love how the study forces me to become a scholar again - she really focuses on LEARNING the material and synthesizing the information she presents and that we read in the Word. The ladies were very welcoming and I felt like it was a great choice of study. I met another mom with a baby daughter as well as other women in their 30's through probably 70's. It is great to be in the company of wise women who can mentor a young mama. The only thing that wasn't that great was the childcare. There are two young girls and one woman doing the childcare. None of them seemed very enthusiastic... Evelyn was in the study with me after a half hour in the nursery when she had checked out all the toys and kids and decided she was done! :-)

My mom came to visit on Friday and gave us our FIRST DATE IN OVER A YEAR! I was very nervous to leave Evelyn, but I knew she was in good hands with a woman who has raised 8 kids and taught me all my mothering tricks. Evelyn was in her own home with someone who looks like Mommy and plays all the same games Mommy does. Jason and I left the first restaurant we tried (way too expensive...even with our coupon) and opted for Mexican food. My milk came in several times as I thought of Evelyn and worried. The cell phone sat on the table and I checked it often. We rushed out as soon as we paid for our over-priced dinner (note: ask how much non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiris are before you order or you may pay $7 like I did...argh!) As we pulled up I saw Evelyn in my mom's arms in the kitchen. She was feeding her a few small bites of ice cream (apparently Evelyn indicated she wanted some as they were playing with the fridge magnets). It was so strange to see her on someone else's hip. I rushed in before Jason even parked the car in the garage and Evelyn hardly cared. My mom reported that she never once even whimpered and she is pretty positive she didn't miss either one of us. They played with the neighbor girls, collected leaves, went on a walk, and made and ate all "p" foods for dinner. I was glad, yet a bit disappointed that she didn't miss me! The date was nice, yet we felt so strange without Evelyn. It just didn't seem right.

My mom and Evelyn's fun times have made me think about how I need to play even more with Evelyn every day. I know I too often get caught up in household chores and other tasks and only take minutes here and there to play and teach. I know I could be better at incorporating more teaching and more playing into the day. My mom says she now knows what people mean by the whole grandparenting joy - you just get to focus on the fun of being with the child and don't have to worry about the discipline and daily care like parents do. I am so glad she likes being a Grandma! Thanks Mom for watching her! Most of all, thanks for teaching me how to be a Mommy and for letting me feel so safe and secure leaving Evelyn with you! I love you!

Saturday gave us a lazy morning and fun afternoon at the International Fall Festival in our historic downtown. Evelyn got to have two firsts: a parade and cheese curds! The parade was fun and we were thrilled to see that they don't have any city ordinances about throwing candy at the parade. Our last town was such a downer - no throwing of candy! Evelyn had a third first, I guess - a taste of Smarties! Ah, parade candy! She also scored a hot pink pom-pon and some literature on the local theatre performances coming up. We are due for a theatre performance!

Sunday was church - Evelyn lasted a half hour again in the nursery. We heard an uplifting sermon from a missionary the church sponsors in Chad, Africa. Wow - what a reminder that we need to pray more diligently for the unsaved and for the missionaries and their families who are serving in cultures that are so different than our own.

Sunday night we started a young married couples Bible study at the same church that I am doing my Bible study at (we have been looking for a church since we moved here and haven't officially decided where we are going to attend/join). This was a great experience and the childcare girls we GREAT! Evelyn was in there for an hour and was just starting to get sad at the end, but the middle school girl was so smart and just decided to start walking her around and showing her things to keep her distracted. Way to go babysitter! She reminded me of all of my sisters and their innate abilities to play with babies and kids so well.

Typing all of this sure makes me realize what great strides I am making in entrusting other people to watch Evelyn. I just cover her in prayer and give very specific instructions to call/page/come and get me AS SOON as she cries! I can't let my baby cry!

And, last but not least, I have been extremely preoccupied with something I am calling "Punkerdoops Diapers." Yep, I caught the entrepreneurial bug. I am planning to distribute quality diapers from several manufacturers. I want to take a teaching spirit with this - guiding moms in my area through their choices in cloth diapering through "Cloth Diapering 101" sessions and one-on-one walk-throughs of their options. Things will initially be in the basement with the hopes of one day branching into an online store. This is a HUGE endeavor and there is so much work to be done. I am just in the initial steps of getting my business registered with the state and so on. I am stuck right now - should I be a sole proprietorship or an LLC? Do I need a lawyer? An accountant? Overwhelming to say the least. Most of the manufacturers/wholesalers will not even communicate with you until you have an issued state business ID and in some cases a full and running website. I have so many websites bookmarked about getting this thing launched - I am up to my eyeballs in to-do lists.

That's about it! Hope all of you are well! Maybe I will catch up to reading blogs by the end of the week! :-)

Weekend Update

Congratulations to Steve and Liz!!! Liz was my student worker here at the university last year. She moved to Missouri and has a year of graduate school under her belt. I was honored to be invited to her wedding and see her and Steve unite as one! She was a radiant bride and the whole wedding and reception was lovely. We didn't know anyone there, but it we ended up having a great time because we sat with three other pregnant couples at our reception table! Go figure! We all had a great time talking and comparing notes on pregnancy, as three of the four of us are on our first round! Congrats and best wishes Liz & Steve! May God richly bless your marriage!
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Jason and I washed up and put together the changing table and crib on Saturday! It was so fun to get her things into her room and really start imagining her in there! We still need to get a dresser, so we haven't decided where each piece of furniture will go yet (it will depend on the size of the dresser). But, it is awfully fun to look at her little baby doll and blankets in her crib and look at the little hats, socks, and outfits I have picked up and people have blessed us with! SO fun!

On Saturday, Jason also worked diligently to pick up and fix up our basement. He put down the carpet from our upstairs living room in the area adjacent to our laundry area. We are going to store books and other things in that area as well as Jason set up a great little sewing area for me. I will have to get started on Baby's bedroom sewing.
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Sunday was filled with a great message from our pastor at church on JOY and the difference between joy and happiness. Joy is found and completed in the Lord, whereas happiness is temporary and found in circumstances. Thankfully, we have had wonderful circumstances lately and have been able to live in both joy and happiness. But, his message was a great reminder of keeping joy in our everyday lives by loving the people around us.

We stayed after church talking to friends and actually closed the church down! We were talking to the youth pastor and his wife (they are due with their first about two months after us) and ended up going to lunch with them. It was great to talk and get to know them better and engage in some true fellowship and "dream sharing." We hope to continue to get to know them better.

Then, about 2 1/2 hours later than anticipated, we headed to Target to register! I had been trying to convince Jason that registering for Baby would not be nearly as long and painstaking as registering for our wedding. I was wrong... I hate to say, but I think that we were there for over 3, maybe close to 4 hours... We did not find a stroller, car seat, or Exercauser there that we liked either. This bummed us out because now we will probably end up going to Babies 'R Us which is a long drive away and is pretty useless to register at since hardly anyone we know could get to one to one of their locations to purchase us something.

Jason was also amazed at how much "stuff" it takes to have a baby. He asked me "how to people in poverty have a baby? They can't possibly buy all of this." This made me think about the fact that you can raise a child with little to nothing - just a few necessities and lots of love. Plenty of people have bathed their kids in the kitchen sink or regular tub - no little baby tubs with hammocks and inflatable duck tubs...

Jason also made fun of me as I registered for pack upon pack of onesies. I tried to explain that they wear them under everything, "spoil" them often, and grow out of them quickly (hence, registering for several packs of every size!) Onesies are one thing moms tell me you can never have enough of! I have purchased quite a few at garage sales. So, maybe I did go overboard. We'll have to wait and see!

I am looking forward to sneaking a peek onto our online registry today and see all of what is on there. I realized that I forgot onesie type t-shirts. (Last time I helped with my newborn little sisters and brothers, you had to use these until their umbilical cord falls off, right?...)
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Well, I think that is all for now! We start our childbirth classes tonight! Very exciting, too!

And, I have my glucose test to look forward to at 7:45 a.m. tomorrow - YESSS!!! (That was a totally facetious remark - I hear it is nasty drinking that syrupy stuff).

Oh, and apparently I made it sound like I lost my purse last week. I knew that I left it at home - knew it was exactly where I always drop it when I walk in the door. I was just feeling a little silly that I managed to forget to bring it with me to work! So, it was never lost, but it was found, right where I knew it would be when I returned home on Thursday!

~Amber