dry patchy skin

Before having a wee babe of my own I thought that babies always have soft, smooth skin. This is not true. Poor Obi has a mild case of excema, but he also has super, no better said EXTREMELY, sensitive skin.  Trying to find a shampoo that works for him as well as a lotion has been no end of trouble.  We started off with Burt's Bees...only to find out that the child is allergic to oranges and both the lotion and wash have orange extract/wax in it.  We moved on to Aveeno, Johnson/Johnson, etc, etc.  I couldn't stand it anymore today.  I feel like a horrid mother becuase I haven't been able to solve his dry patches and they are getting worse.  There is one patch around his mouth (from a little soap residue *I think* left on his paci) that is contantly getting wet and wiped and it is now peeling! YIKES!!!  So, after some serious internet time looking for natural/healthy remedies for said red, dry, scaly patches I decided to give California Baby Calendula cream a try.  I tossed my baby in his carseat and off we headed to Fayetteville for a 2oz bottle of supposed magic.  3 hours later we were home and I put some on the inside of his arm to give it a test. After a couple of hours it seemed like it was a bit better...definitely not worse.  I am hoping this will work.  I did also buy a bottle of their super-sensitive wash and gave him a bath with it.  He has been slathered and kissed and sent off to bed.  In the morning I'll know if it worked (even just a little would be nice), or if I am back at square one and $20 poorer.  Not that any of you reading really want to know about my kid's skin issues, but there you have it just the same.

I finished my first sewing project.  It is a little cloth "thing" that straps your kid into a chair or highchair.  I am pretty excited about it because Obi has been wanting to sit in highchairs at restaurants, but because he hasn't mastered the whole balance thing yet he can't quite do it. I used some scrap fabric, but voila...it worked!

It works in the chair at home, so we'll give it a whirl when we are out and about next time. :-)

No profound thoughts for tonight.  But, I'll leave you with a picture of Obi and I from our time in Cali at the Pollo Loco. YUM! Doesn't his face say "So, umm..mom, where is my Pollo bowl?"

why hello 2010!

What? How did it get to be 2010 already?  Last night I was laying in bed next to my husband and we were chatting about all that has happened this year.  A year ago we still had 7 months of pregnancy to go through and it felt like FOREVER till we were going to meet that baby of ours. However here we are...with a five-month old.  It hasn't been long enough that we can't remember life without him, BUT, we have decided that we much prefer life with our Obadiah Knight. So, favorite moment of 2009...hands down it would be 9:20pm on July 23rd (the epidural sure made the previous moments much more enjoyable, thank you to the inventor of that great delight). We have had some other fabulous memories from this year.  So many blessings.  The blessings make us feel so humbled and thankful. This year has been the easiest we've had since we were married.  Some hard points? Sure. But those just have grown us in good ways.

The past month has just flown by.  I can't believe that I've so neglected my blog lately. Part of it has been from lack of anything fun to write about, part of it was that we have been so busy and without internet at times.  I hope to spend some more time writing on my blog this year.  Writing about the things that matter to me and what the Lord is teaching me about.  We'll see how successful I am at keeping up with that!  :-)

I have never been one to make new year's resolutions, mainly because I forget what I am being "resolute" about. Case in point- I had toyed with the idea of giving up chocolate (and most sweets) for the year. Not that I typically eat it that much, but thought it would be good for me...if nothing else. Yeah, well, I ended up eating more than one chocolate chip cookie already today, then I remembered my potential resolution. Ruined before even one day of the new year had passed. Meh. If I were to make some fun, hmmm...better said breakable, resolutions I think they would be something like this:
1. exercise on a regular basis
2. avoid sweets and chocolate
3. pick up a new hobby
4. cook a new recipe once a week

Well...it is much beyond my bedtime. My little lamb with surely be awakening soon to eat.  So, I'm off to bed. But, I'll be back soon. I promise. Happy New Year to whoever you are reading this. May you be blessed this year. 

A cleaning

Yesterday I put a sleepy Obi in his crib, tip toed out his room, silently closed his door and then I rolled up my sleeves.  There was an immense amount of cleaning that needed to be done.  There were layers of dust that I really must not speak too much about.  People think that I am neat and clean and tidy, and as I told a sweet friend...that is kind of true, but not entirely, however I do take pride (maybe too much?) in the fact that people think that of me.

Regardless, I needed to do some major scrubbing.  This is, it wasn't just my house that needed me to put in some elbow grease. My heart and mind needed some cleaning too.  I have had so much on my mind the past few months with some family issues. I don't do very well if I just sit still and think.  I start to "pile". My husband, in his wisdom...or exasperation, (not sure which) always tells me that when I am upset I start to "pile".  I start building little mounds.  My process goes like this: "___ is wrong", "if ___is wrong, then that means that ___is going to be a mess too", and so on and so forth.  I recognize that this is my tendency, so hence, the cleaning of my house. 

As I went to work on my ceiling fan I was reminded to go back to the ultimate truth that I know; that God has all things under control.  God is at work.  All things really do work out for good.  Why? Well, because He has promised that they will, and because He does not sleep.  Nothing has squeaked past our Good Shepard.  Read this:

Psalm 121

A song of ascents.

 ¹ I lift up my eyes to the hills—
       where does my help come from?

 ² My help comes from the LORD,
       the Maker of heaven and earth.

 ³ He will not let your foot slip—
       he who watches over you will not slumber;

 ⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
       will neither slumber nor sleep.

 ⁵ The LORD watches over you—
       the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

 ⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
       nor the moon by night.

 ⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm—
       he will watch over your life;

 ⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going
       both now and forevermore.

Ahh...doesn't that soothe the soul?! As I gave my dear oven a little tender care I was reminded that it is the times when we can't see clearly or we don't have things all figured out that we are brought back to our knees.  A place that I need to be more often.  How amazing that I can have a conversation with my Heavenly Father.  More amazing is that He cares to listen and converse back with me. 

When the hard times are over I always look back and cherish them.  Why? Becuase they were sweet? Absolutely not! But because the ways in which my Jesus brings me closer to Himself through those times are priceless.  I am fickle of heart and not very strong in my faith.  But, Jesus goes nowhere. Every time I seek Him, I find Him!!  Going through my tribulation that brought me my Obadiah was rough, but one in which I truly saw the Lord lavish His love upon me. His mercies were new every morning.  If it was true at that moment, then it certainly is true now and in this situation.

So, as I began wiping down my windows I began to think of a song that I sing to Obi every day...

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

 

I wrapped up my cleaning as Mr. Obi opened up his eyes and let me know it was snack time.  I have been given such a tangible gift of God's goodness and faithfulness!  My heart and mind needed that cleaning time, and I don't suppose that it hurt my house any. :-)

Thanksgiving

It is the eve of Thanksgiving.  This holiday has always been celebrated in my family, but since my family is Canadian we also celebrated their thanksgiving too, which is in October.  When home with my folks these are a few of the things that I so enjoy about this holiday...
- The smell of the turkey roasting.
- A crazy flurry of activity the day before as we prepare the meal to be cooked the next day.
- The morning of, we all gather in our pjs and spend time laughing and talking over breakfast and coffee.
- Watching the parade on tv in the background.
- FOOD! (if you know me at all, then you would know that food is one of my favorite loves. It is a weakness of mine.)
- Family...growing up my family moved a lot, no better said, we moved all the time!! The only thing we had that was consistent in life was each other.  It has made us a close family and we cherish the time we get to spend together.

This Thanksgiving I am spending it with my husband's family in Kansas.  Their traditions are a little different than mine, but there will be a lot of love to go around.  Love and pickled hering. I could do without the pickled hering, but Jason's grandpa makes up for it by frying up some of his famous homemade potato chips.  Nothing like chips AND turkey on the same day! Some things really are just too good to be true.  (I did mention that I liked food, right?)

There are many thing that I am thankful for this year.  Most of those things are wrapped up in my husband and my son.  God has so richly blessed me and I am more than humbled by the way that the Lord has provided for me, and I don't mean just money wise.  There have been a lot of changes in my life in the past year. Questions that I was asking. Plans that needed to be made. Adjustments that were coming. Many things could have gone "wrong", but didn't. It has been a year where I have learned to walk a little closer to the Lord and trust Him in ways that I didn't before. If for no other reason, that is enough to be Thankful for. I've seen ways in which God's faithfulness and mercies are new every morning. There are still many thing that I am praying for and are heavy on my heart, but from living this past year I really KNOW that God will take care of those things in ways that are beyond my understanding.  God is working in the big and the small details of my life. He is working in yours too.  And so, I am thankful. Humbly thankful. I feel like this is a perfect time to reflect on God's goodness to me as I head into the Christmas season.  Holidays are great. I did mention the food, right? But holidays can get me off track of what their real purpose is.  I don't want to do that through this holiday season.

One of the top things that I am so thankful for tonight is that my little nephew made it safely into this world yesterday morning.  Mr. Henry Paul Smith was 7lbs. 3oz. and 21 inches long.  At 20 weeks the doctor thought he might have downs syndrome or heart/brain defects. We prayed and were trying not to worry since God knew what He was doing when He created this little boy. I am thrilled to say that Henry is perfectly healthy and doing famously.  Apparently he has a head full of blonde hair and looks strikingly like my niece, Isabella.  I haven't seen a picture of him yet, but I am in love with my little nephew already. Just another reason of how God is good.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  Enjoy your turkey, family, nap, shopping, rest, and time of being thankful.

list

Two years ago for Christmas my Mother-in-law bought me a sewing machine!  I LOVE it.  But, I have never had the time to truly devote to sewing projects like I would have hoped.  In my dreams, albeit wild dreams, I would love to have an etsy site where I can sell some of my "masterpieces".  I have a whole list of things that I would like to start in on. Curious?

Some fun burp cloths...

And paci holders that are a little more color coordinate-able (is that a word?)

I love these little pillowcase dresses...and though I don't have a girly yet, it would be fun to make some to sell!

Or, how about a cute bag to haul all those baby (or non baby) necessities?

I love the look of these taggie blankets, and totally want to try to make one (or two)...

And, maybe a few of this cute wipe cases:

I have a feeling I am being a little over ambitious right now, but a girl can dream big, right?!  My sewing skills aren't amazing, so it will take me a while to get it all right, but I am totally pumped to start in on these.  I'll be sure to take some pictures of my completed projects when/if they happen!

As of tomorrow it will have been six whole months since I last worked.  Well, let me correct that statement...since I last worked at an office.  Since I last worked? Hmm...2 hrs, 49 min. :-) Jason and I were talking about different jobs in the world and he was commenting that I would love working at a place like Williams Sonoma. I thought about it for 3 seconds and then thought nope...I LOVE my current job.  You know, each day as Obadiah can do more and more, my job gets more rewarding. The dirty diapers aren't really a perk, but giggles I get when my Obi has a clean bum sure are!  I had someone comment to me the other day that she wasn't made to stay at home all day.  Frankly, I am not sure I have met anyone who was meant to be inside all day, every day.  It is true, there have been a few days when I have had to resort to going to Wal-Mart for a little excursion.  Glamorous? Not quite. But hey...I get to say hello to the greeters and the check-out person...so it isn't all that bad!  I am so thankful for

On a separate note, there are some things that have been weighing on my mind lately.  So, I've been praying.  I haven't seen the Lord answer the prayers yet, but I have seen Him at work at my heart as I have been praying.  Perhaps that is equally as important as the answer to the prayer itself. I am continually reminded of how the scriptures talk about how when we seek the Lord with our whole hearts He will be found!  I want that to be true of me.  I do not want to live with a divided heart, but rather as one that is completely seeking after the Lord. I have a looooooong ways to go.

Sweet friends

This Friday I went to a birthday party for one of my best friends.  Here is a picture of Elizabeth's sweet family!  I love this family to pieces.

Her two precious girls!  Couldn't be any sweeter if they tried.

It was so wonderful to spend time with her and two other treasured friends.  I know that I am a blessed girl. I have a beautiful little family and could not ask for much more than what I've got.  But I also have been given some friendships that I know will last for my lifetime.  These are the women that I have cried with, laughed with and just been quiet with.  These are the girls that show me unconditional love and support. I wish that everyone was as blessed as I.

Love you girls!  Thanks for your friendship.  I cherish you.