15 weeks

Obi,

Fifteen weeks ago tonight we were holding you in our arms for the very first time. We knew life was going to change...and it has. But at the same time, it feels like you've been a part of our lives forever and so life is very much un-changed. 

I know that every momma thinks that their baby is best.  But, the secret between you and I is that YOU really ARE the best. You rarely cry, unless something is wrong.  Your little squeeky voice is like music to my ears when you "talk".  We listen to a lot of that music at our house!! Every day is a new discovery for you.  You are constantly inspecting things and checking out all that goes on around you.  The only way that you will nap is if it is just you and I here at the house and there is nothing much going on.  If there is a party happening, then my dear boy, you want to be in the middle of it.  I would like to take this time to tell you that naps are our friends! :-)

You bring so much joy to our lives and we are ever so thankful that God chose to send us you.  We are more than a little humbled!  You bring out the best in both your dad and I.  We adore being your parents and we wouldn't change anything. I am not wishing this time away because already I miss the newborn Obi, but I am so excited for when you are able to do all the stuff that I know you are dying to do!  We are going to have a blast together my son.

Your full head of hair is now just a fluffy patch on the top of your head.   It doesn't stick up as much as it used to, but you are starting to get a bunch of fuzz all over your head.  Hmmm...will it be blonde? or brown?  I think it will be blonde, just like your daddy!  People stop me everywhere we go and they comment on what an adorable baby you are (yes, I admit to having a bit of pride about that fact).  If they know your daddy, the very next thing they tell me is that you look just like him. I am alright with that.  You are just not allowed to pull all the stunts that he did when he was little, ok?!


Son, I am praying that the seeds we are sowing in your life will rest on good soil.  I love that you are cute and smart and funny, but more than anything, I want for you to love Jesus!  We are praying blessings over your life.  May you live up to the meaning of your name Obadiah: servant of God.

You are much loved by me (and your daddy)!

Mom

all blown out

You know when you hear the pipes in your kitchen sink start to gurgle and just bubble.  You wait with antcipation of something bad happening, and 99.9% of the time nothing bad does happen.  Today I found out that those statistics are not quite so high when your baby's "pipes" start to rumble.  Yes folks, today I had to strip my child down twice because there was poo all the way up his back and starting to make it's way toward his hairline. Both times I happened to be holding him.  Once at a place where it was fully appropriate to strip him down to his skin, and once at a really fun/fancy restaurant with all of the people from a photo studio sitting at the table with us.  The second place was not quite as appropriate as the first, so we marched out to the car, I popped the trunk and laid my sweet, smiling baby in the trunk and proceed to pull his wet, stinky, slimy outfit off.  For the record, a trunk works very well for changing a messy baby. Poor Obi though, I had only brought one clean outfit with me today, so I had to put him in his jacket and then my sweater. I am guessing this won't be the first time that I will have to give up my clothes in order to keep my baby warm.  Mental note to self: pack at least TWO clean outfits, you just never know when things are going to blow up, or...out! 

After two weeks of being sick myself, I am finally well!  My darling baby boy started with a fever on Wednesday night and since I am a new parent, and since swine flu is going around, I decided to do the mature and wise thing and take my sweet Obi to the doctor.  His lungs, ears and throat were clear, but the doctor put him on Tamiflu for his other symptoms.  After listening to what the doctor said about swine flu, I am guessing that that is what I had for two weeks.  We are MUCH better now.  Ready to dive back into life with full force.

I've made my decision.  About school. I am going to say farewell to my books, professors, and my homework.  I feel confident about this decision.  There will be things that I will greatly miss about my grad school program. But, there are things that I would miss a great deal more if I continued! When I started with school I wasn't sure when a baby would make his/her way to our front door.  Now that my son is here I don't want to trade anything else for time with him.  I absolutely adore being his mommy, and for me, this is the right decision. There may be days when I want to do something other than change diapers, wipe a nose, and pick up toys.  I will tackle those days when they come.  If and when the day comes that it is right for our family for me to return to school then I will gladly go. Right now I gladly am staying home. I prayed about this decision and feel at peace about it.

Obi and I are heading to St. Louis tomorrow with Jason.  He has to go for work and since he's been gone so much lately, the two of us decided to tag along with him.  It's a bit of a spur of the moment decision, but we are excited to go see fabulous St. Lou together.  I used to recruit in St. Louis, but this will be my first time there as a non-working girl. 

I'll give you an update as to how our little road trip goes!

A tub for the Baby

We did it!  I made it to Colorado and back by myself with a 12 week old baby.  The ladies at the Denver TSA gave me the award for "most creative use of the tub".  See, I was struggling to figure out what to do with my wobbly 12 week old Obi while I took off my shoes and jacket, collapsed the stroller, took out my laptop, and put all that stuff...as well as the diaper bag onto the conveyer belt to be scanned.  I obviously couldn't put him on the floor, so I made use of the tubs and made one into a little baby carrier for a few moments.  Obi didn't seem to mind too much, which was a good thing since there was a line of people waiting to put their posessions on the belt after me.  As for the flights, my baby didn't cry once.  Not on the way there, not on the way home.  It's official: I have a fabulous baby! I mean, I knew that was true...but it was nice to have it confirmed yet again.

Our trip to Colorado was good.  There was some tough stuff, but it was a great time of visiting with my family and loving on each other during a time of need.  I was reminded about what is important in life. I am blessed to have people in my life with whom I can love, support, draw support, cry, laugh, and just be who I am without judgement. My family has warts, but what family doesn't? What my family does have is a lot of love for each other, and that is what matters!

I am exhausted, so I am heading to bed...but I just wanted to post briefly to say that we are home again and that God has once again proven Himself to be faithful. I saw that evidenced in both the big and the small details of this trip.  God is good, in so very many ways.

it's so unfair

Guess what?  When I woke up this morning, I woke up at my house in Arkansas. There are dirty dishes in my sink, homework that is begging to be done, a living room that needs to be picked up, and a dog that wants a walk (but it is misty rainy). Guess where my husband woke up? In Cologne, Germany.  He got to go walk through cobblestone streets, drink FABULOUS German coffee, not to mention drink in the lovely German culture.  Yeah, I suppose he does have to work while he is there...but can it really be called work when he is in Germany?  No, I think not!  I am not green with envy because I really am excited for him to go and experience it, but I don't mind saying that IT'S NOT FAIR that I didn't get to go too.

Obadiah and I are headed out to Colorado later this week, so that kinda makes up for the unfairness of the situation.  ;-)  Obi will get to meet his uncles and aunt and his Grandpa.  I can't wait to take pictures of them all together and to spend time.  I don't get to see my family as often as I would like.  The last time that we were all together was last Christmas...I've only seen my mom and my youngest brother since then.  I am thankful for this opportunity to be with them.

I've got a lot of thoughts rattling around in my head at the moment.  Some are of consequence, some are not.  I was talking with my husband the other day and he made a comment about how he thought that after I stopped working I wouldn't have so many things going on and that I wouldn't be stressed.  It made me think that though my situation may change, I can still busy myself to the point of stress.  I've been thinking of what it means to be still before the Lord.  How do we carry on our every day routines while still living in His rest?  I am learning a lot about prayer at this moment in my life.  I am continually having to pray and give my thoughts (good, bad, worrisome) to the Lord and give Him charge of what goes on in my life.  I want to be led by the still waters and when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death to know, feel and believe that God is with me...because He IS!

Ode to Food

So a few weeks ago Jason and I broke down and re-upped our cable.  It was mostly becuase it was just SO quiet around the house after Obi was born and mom had gone back home. It was starting to get a little lonely.  I think we've decided to call the cable company back though and have them disconnect it, yet again. Why, you may ask?  Good question. Well, most of it has to do with the fact that there is very little to watch on tv that is decent.  Does anyone remember the days when TLC used to really be "The Learning Channel"? Or that the history channel had more shows that were historical in nature, rather than the repetitive shows about the impending doom upon the world if we just happen to run into a meteorite that is large enough to blow us off our usual orbit.  I just can't stomach the show after show that say the world is gonna end tomorrow so we better stop using extra-soft tp and run our cars on recycled corn oil just in case we can stop that meteorite from hitting us! 

But I digress.  If we do give it up again the one channel that I will ALWAYS miss is the Food Network. Oh how I love it!  I could soak up every minute of Paula Dean, Ina Garten and Bobby Flay.  Alton Brown, I learned how to truly scramble an egg from you. I watch the Iron Chef and smugly think that I could surely do as good of a job as any of the competitors do.  I'd die to be one of the guests at Giada's patio table. Well, in honor of my love for the food network, and well...just food in general...I made some Orange Cranberry scones tonight to take to Bible study tomorrow. In the words of Rachel Ray: Yum-O! Barefoot Contessa, you are my new virtual best friend.  You have just made this girl in the middle of Nowhere, Arkansas, feel like she's just become a little more civilized.  So, pass the butter and the orange marmalade.   Here's the recipe:
nocoupons

• 4 cups plus 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
• 3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
• 4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup cold heavy cream
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water or milk, for egg wash
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
• 4 teaspoons freshly squeezed orange juice

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix 4 cups of flour, 1/4 cup sugar, the baking powder, salt and orange zest. Add the cold butter and mix at the lowest speed until the butter is the size of peas. Combine the eggs and heavy cream and, with the mixer on low speed, slowly pour into the flour and butter mixture. Mix until just blended. The dough will look lumpy! Combine the dried cranberries and 1/4 cup of flour, add to the dough, and mix on low speed until blended.

Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead it into a ball. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough 3/4-inch thick. You should see small bits of butter in the dough. Keep moving the dough on the floured board so it doesn't stick. Flour a 3-inch round plain or fluted cutter and cut circles of dough. Place the scones on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Collect the scraps neatly, roll them out, and cut more circles.

Brush the tops of the scones with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are browned and the insides are fully baked. The scones will be firm to the touch. Allow the scones to cool for 15 minutes and then whisk together the confectioners' sugar and orange juice, and drizzle over the scones.

Random thoughts

Tonight I have nothing profound to write about, just some random thoughts and questions like,

- Why do most people have their blinds/curtains closed all the time?  Seriously, every time I go for a walk (usually during the day) almost no window has it's curtains open. Why not let the sunshine in?  No wonder some people suffer fromd depression and seasonal affective disorder! I would too if I lived in a house that was rarely opened up to the beautiful day.

- Every year I say that I want to grow a garden.  This year I didn't becuase let's face it, I couldn't bend over! I know it's not time for new year's resolutions yet, but I am going to take some time this spring and really plan out a garden for this next summer/fall.  I am so wishing that I had some fall veggies that I could harvest right about now.

- I went on a walk today and it smelled like fall.  Apparently the fall smell really is just moldy rotting leaves that have fallen and gotten wet and are now decomposing.  Who knew that mold could smell so good? And, isn't it amazing at how you don't smell fall for months and then that first whiff of it in October is so familiar?

- In the middle of September I joined a ladies Bible study and we are going through the Book of Daniel.  I am LOVING it!!  There is so much to glean from that book and so much of it I've overlooked in the past.  Also, I am having to eat my words.  I've always been a scoffer of women's Bible studies (my brothers were also fellow scoffers), mainly because it seemed like, well, a pansy thing to belong to.  You know, just mushy ladies that only talk about the gentle side of God.  This study is anything but that. And, maybe becuase I am now a mom and a "stay at home-er" that I crave interaction with other women, other mom's.

- This weekend I was in the library at the University of Arkansas feeding Obi (I know, I know...a random place to feed my kid) and well...there were only about 5 people in the room we were in, but Obi tooted while he was eating.  It wasn't a quiet toot either, he just let it rip! All of the sudden I was really questioning my judgement for choosing the library, of all places, to nurse Obi.  At least the Korean dude sitting across from me didn't seem too disturbed.

That's all I got for tonight folks.  Have a great week!