Prayers for Boston

On a day like today I can't imagine letting my little one out of my sight. I just want to cuddle her and hold her and protect her from the world and the tragedy that is out there. I know that is impossible. I cannot protect her. But I do know some One who can. The same One who gave her to me to care for and love. Only He can protect her, and all of us, during times like this. It is He that I turn to when I am scared or weak. He is the only One that can take care of us. It is Him that I lean on now, and it is He that I pray to asking for strength and peace for the people of Boston and all those effected by this tragedy.

So hold on to the ones you love and remember that God has you in His hands and He loves you so much!

3 Months!

weight: 15 lbs 2 oz      

height: 23 1/2 in

eating: every 2-4 hours still; exclusively breastfed

tummy time: beginning to love it more and more!

happiness: starting to smile more and more and talking up a storm; we're starting to have "conversations" now!

loves: cuddles, Lamaze toys, play gym, looking at herself in the mirror or phone

sleep: between 6 and 8 hours a night depending (however, last night little bug woke up every two hours wanting her paci); officially in the crib!

Bug has gained 2 pounds in the past month! Her rolls are getting more and more pronounced! They're just adorable! She still hasn't accomplished the whole rolling over thing. She makes it to her side and then gets really frustrated when she can't make it the rest of  the way. Maybe she'll accomplish the feat this month!

This was her last day in 0-3 month clothing, and believe me, it was a tight fit. She's officially moved into 3-6  month clothing. She needs something bigger to house all her rolls. I'm in the process of changing out her clothes once again. It makes me sad to pack away all of her little clothes. She's getting bigger and bigger.

Bug has started "talking" to us and having conversations! It's the best thing ever! I love hearing her talk and seeing her smile when we respond to her.

She loves her fingers and looking at herself in the mirror. She's also started drooling tons and tons. We've had to bring out the bibs so her clothes don't get completely soaked. I'm hoping it's still too soon for her to be cutting teeth! I'm not ready to go through that just yet...

The hubs and I went on our first date without baby this past month. Bibi and Papí watched Bug for us. The hubs had the night all planned out. He surprised me with tickets to go and see Mary Poppins at the Fabulous Fox Theatre! It was a wonderful night, but I was happy to see Bug by the end. And smart man took me to a theatre where I could text my mom every few minutes to see how she was doing.

She's always playing with her hands now! I love the way she holds them together. 

She's officially in her crib and sleeping great (for the most part...we won't count last night).

Dear Bug, 

You are such a joy! Such a gift! I thank God every day for blessing us with you. You're learning up a storm these days and even mimicking our facial expressions! We love you so much Bug. We're a family because of you. Every month there's something new you've discovered and it's so much fun seeing the joy on your face as you discover it. You're ready to take the world on, but please slow down just a smidgen. Your daddy and I want to cherish every moment we have with you and we don't want you to grow up too fast!

Gitchee gitchee goo!

Mommy and Daddy

Comparisons

Just a little comparison for your Wednesday.

3 month update on the blog tomorrow!

You Are Beautiful

Dove's new ad

Polluted by the World

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

James 1:27 NIVUK

I typically stray away from "heavy" posts. I don't like to get caught up in all the political hullabaloo, or in weighty religious topics. I speak my mind and leave it at that. I don't want to throw my beliefs at you or the next the person that comes along.

But this is where I draw the line. 

From here on out I'm going to be blunt. I'm going to be honest. I'm going to speak my peace on a topic that is very important to me. If you don't want to read my opinion, then I suggest you stop here. I'll go ahead and apologize for not being sorry that I wrote this. I will not apologize for something I so strongly believe in.

I hope many of you have heard of this man: Kermit Gosnell. But I'm afraid many of you have not. Who is this man? This man is on trial for 8 counts of murder and infanticide. 

You see, this man ran an abortion clinic. I'll go ahead and tell you that I am 100% pro-life, so already what this guy does for a living does not sit well in my boat. But what he did in his clinic makes me hurt. 

According to the grand jury report:

"This case is about a doctor who killed babies and endangered women. What we 

mean is that he regularly and illegally delivered live, viable, babies in the third trimester 

of pregnancy – and then murdered these newborns by severing their spinal cords with 

scissors. The medical practice by which he carried out this business was a filthy fraud in 

which he overdosed his patients with dangerous drugs, spread venereal disease among 

them with infected instruments, perforated their wombs and bowels – and, on at least two 

occasions, caused their deaths. Over the years, many people came to know that 

something was going on here. But no one put a stop to it."

Let me repeat this:

He regularly and illegally delivered live, viable, babies. He murdered them by severing their spine with scissors! The thought disgusts me. It horrifies me. It makes me sick.

But most of you haven't heard about this man. Why? Why has the media kept this from airing? Is it because the subject of abortion is already so taboo that we don't want to interrupt our agendas by talking about it? Are we afraid it will ruin the pretty picture we're trying to paint? Or is it because, deep down, we all know what abortion really is, and this will only bring it to light?

I know that it is only by the grace of God through Jesus Christ that I am saved. My sins are no less than this mans sins. But still, I am mad. I am upset. People knew what was going on and they did nothing. They turned a blind eye to the things this man was doing. And this makes me mad. 

But more than that, it makes me hurt. I hurt for those babies that came traumatically into this life and then were just as traumatically taken out of it. I hurt for the women who had to endure such horrific procedures with incompetent staff and "medical" professionals. I hurt for their loved ones who went with them during this process. I hurt for the employees who had to endure what was going on there. And most of all, I hurt for the man who thought this was okay for him to do. 

Has our world become so jaded?

Right now the LORD is working hard in me. I have a fire in me that I haven't felt in a long time. There is something that I have in my heart that I want to let out...I don't know how quite yet, but I'm praying that He will guide me in this.

First time I held my newborn daughter. A moment I will never forget.

**Let me state, that just because I'm pro-life does not mean that I hate anyone and everyone that has ever had an abortion. In fact, it is just the opposite. I love and support you. And this is me being 100% honest.**

Let the Renovations Begin...

We've officially started! Well, if you call buying paint samples and getting them on the siding starting, then we've started. 

Here is what our house looked like when we first bought it:

Those bushy things to the right of the picture are no longer there. We ripped them up last year and then we ran out of money...so nothings gone back there. It's still a work in progress. Also note this picture was taken in the winter time, so that's another reason for the dismal look.

Basically our house is an ugly green blob with this pinkish brown trim. I don't like it at all. So now we're painting!

Not the best picture, it's a cloudy/rainy day here.

Left side blue: Behr Mosaic Blue (siding color)

Top: Glidden Sunflower (door color)

Middle on top: Behr Misty Morn (porch color)

Middle on bottom: Glidden Pebble Grey (porch color)

Right side blue: Glidden Rich Navy (siding color)

We didn't pick out a trim color. I want it to match the new windows, which will be white, so we're waiting for those to be installed before we decide.

As of now, we've picked our siding color! We decided to go with the Glidden Rich Navy (but in Behr paint...nothing against Glidden, we just know Behr, so that's what we stick with). We were uncertain at first, the color seemed to be so light! But thankfully, it dried darker and in fact is the perfect color! Just what I was envisioning! The yellow door is also a thumbs up from us. I think it has the perfect pop. It's hard to tell now because I didn't do enough coats to show it's true color, but I know it's going to pop and I love that! I think everyone should have a brightly painted door. To me, it just says "Welcome"!

The hang up is with the color of the porch/deck. We're not going to paint it the same color as the siding, as is the case with the house now. We want something different. I want to go for a lighter shade of blue for a contrast. The hubs wants to go with either a slightly darker grey or a tan. I don't know how I feel about grey. I feel like it would be too dark and not welcoming.  I definitely don't like the idea of tan with a bright yellow door. Those colors just don't seem to go well together in my opinion. So we're going back to the HD to get two more paint samples. One of my choosing, and one of his. I tried compromising with a blue-grey, but he wasn't a fan. I guess we'll just have to see!

What do y'all think? Should we go lighter blue for the contrasting porch? Or should we go a slightly darker grey than what is pictured above?

the Cloth Diaper Adventures #3

The One Where I Wash My Diapers:

Step 1: Separate. 

Whenever I change Bug's diapers, I separate the insert and the cover and put them into the wet bag. Right now I don't bother with scraping the poo off because she is solely breastfed and it just rinses off in the wash. Which brings us to step 2...

Step 2: Rinse. 

I put all my diapers, inserts, and the wet bag all in the washing machine and set it on a complete cycle without soap with cold water. This gets all the mess off of the diapers.

Step 3: Wash.

I wash my diapers in hot water with a tablespoon of powder soap. No liquid soap used on these diapers. Side note: we don't use liquid on any of our clothes. Instead, we make our own laundry detergent and I use this as our diaper detergent.

Step 3: Rinse #2.

I re-rinse all of my diapers in cold water. This is to get any extra soap off of the diapers. 

Step 4: Dry.

I hang dry both covers and inserts. It typically takes anywhere from 12 hours to a day to dry. I'm hoping that will speed up once I get my outside clothesline up and going. Of course, it's April in Georgia which means major pollen everywhere, so I'm okay with not hanging my diapers outside...

Anyway, that's my diaper washing cycle. If anyone has any tips for when the poo changes that would be greatly appreciated!