Comparisons

Just a little comparison for your Wednesday.

3 month update on the blog tomorrow!

You Are Beautiful

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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!

The Quiet -- Also Known As: Alli Rambles

Bug is asleep. She actually didn't fight going to sleep tonight. Just a short bicker, but it was settled quickly. Now I'm sitting here, listening to the Braves game (Go Braves!) and looking for things for the house. 

Aren't these curtains from Target amazing?!

Is it crazy that I miss my girl right now? She's quietly sleeping in her crib just down the hallway, but I still miss her. I like her to be in my sight so I can just look over and we can share smiles. I know this is silly. I can't have her by my side 24/7 for her entire life...But I can't help but miss her when she's not with me. 

This whole being a mom thing is a new thing. A wonderful thing. It's during these quiet times that I can reflect on the wonderful thing that is being a mother (have I used the word thing too much?). I'm loving being a mother, especially a mom that gets to stay at home. I love getting to experience every day with my girl. Every day is a new day filled with new experiences for her. I love watching her discover new things. She is so close to finding her feet! I love seeing her face light up and hearing her coo. I even love her sad and pitiful faces! She seriously has the cutest sad face you've ever seen! And her pouty lip stretches for miles! It's just adorable. Then again, I am biased. 

I just love being a mommy and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Favorite Things: 2 Months Edition

1. Fisher Price Rainforest Melodies & Lights Deluxe Gym - This little play gym has kept Bug entertained for hours while I busy myself around the house cooking and cleaning (or updating this blog). The lights and sounds keep her mesmerized. Both of us just love this!

2. Skip Hop Bento Tote Diaper Bag - I personally love this bag! I can fit everything in it. Plus it's easy to tote around and it has a place for everything.

3 & 4. Lamaze Toys - Bug absolutely loves batting at these. I love the rings on #4. She swats at those and grabs at them and holds on for dear life. Plus they make noises as she hits them. She just goes to town with these, giggling and cooing. It's adorable!

5. Fisher Price Infant-to-Toddler Rocker - This is a new toy for the Bug. She watched as her daddy put it together and her face just lit up when we put her in it. The first night we put her in it, she played so hard she fell asleep. It was adorable! Plus this is great to pull into the kitchen with me, so she can hang out while I cook and do dishes.

6. Alva Baby Diapers - I am loving our cloth diapers by Alva Baby!! They are so soft and adorable! I really just can't get enough of them! (I know I said there would be a post on how I care for my cloth diapers, and it's on the way!)

Bug's First Easter!

We dyed eggs with Bibi. 

Bug's Easter basket contained: bubbles, an outift + shoes, a sock monkey bunny, the Further Tales of Peter Rabbit, a rubber ducky, and her first "Bun Bun" made my me :)

Our first Easter as a family of three!

It was a crazy weekend. The hubs's family holds a sunrise service every Easter on the hill behind their house. We try and go every year. In fact, we've only missed one service the entire time we've been together and that was because we were moving. So I was religiously watching the weather to see what I needed to pack for Bug. Did I mention this was going to be her first time spending the night away from the house? I was a nervous wreck! So rain was predicted, but we were praying and crossing our fingers that everything would be okay. Otherwise, Bug and I would have to be camped out at the house while the hubs joined the family. 

So I packed everything up and we headed to the in-laws. It rained as we drove up there. Not a good sign. Thank goodness it stopped though, but not enough to have service up on the hill. It was too muddy to take the vehicles up there. So the service was moved to the arena across the street. That meant Bug and I could go! We got up before 6 and I prayed that she'd do alright. She had slept wonderfully that night, so I was hoping that it would bode for a good day. We got ready and made the trip across the street. I decided to wear her in the Infantino, and she fell right to sleep as we sang hims and watched the sunrise. It was absolutely precious to be holding my baby girl as we sang praises to God.

After the service, we joined everyone back at the house for breakfast. They were all anxious to meet the newest addition to the family. We ate a quick bite to eat and then had to run. We had to be back at our home church for the 9:30 service. So we changed and ran. Thankfully we were only a few minutes late. It was a wonderful service. We stayed for the 11 o'clock service to work with the kiddos. Then it was off to my parents' house for lunch and then the hubs's grandma's for dinner. 

It was wonderful to spend the day with family and friends. Bug was exhausted when we got home and ended up screaming crying herself to sleep. But in the end we had a wonderful Easter.

Happy (late) Easter everyone!

Friday Letters

Dear Bug, thanks for sleeping like you did! You gave us a scare around 12:30 (your angelcare alarm went off), but you didn't even wake up for it! Clearly you were fine, just sleeping hard. You woke up an hour later and wanted your paci, but after that you slept through to 6:00. And thank you for waking up when you did! Daddy was going to be late if you hadn't have woken us up! Dear Hubs, Thank you for making it possible for me to stay home with our bundle! We love you so much! Dear Weekend, Please don't beat us up. You're going to be busy, filled with family and celebration, so please go smoothly. Dear Weather,  Please stay warm. Rumor has it you're going to cool down again. I'm not okay with that. Bug needs to get outside! Also, please don't rain this weekend! Sunrise service will not be my favorite if you decide to rain. 

Dear God, Thank You for sending Your Son to the cross to die for my sins. As I listen to my daughter coo and see her smile, I understand more and more the significance of what You did. The sacrifice You made. I couldn't imagine losing my daughter, willingly losing my daughter.So thank You. Thank You thank You thank You.

The One Where My Dreams Come True

Well, it's official

I'm now a stay-at-home-mommy!

When the hubs and I started dated we did the usual "family talk." The first thing I said is that I wanted to stay at home and raise our kids. My mother did it and I loved that growing up. I wanted the same thing for my kids.

And now I have joined the league of women that is comprised of stay-at-home-mommies!

Bug and I on my first official day as a stay-at-home-mom. 

It took a lot of prayer and a lot of God. Okay. It took a ton of God. All God. We've been working for the past year to trim down expenses and the hubs has been trying to take on extra work so he can make up my salary. He was almost there when Bug came into the world, but we weren't there just yet. We had 12 weeks  to see if I had to go back to work for the end of the school year. I honestly didn't want to. I couldn't even fathom leaving my little girl with someone else, even if it were family members and only for 6 weeks. The thought killed me. I didn't want to miss her first giggle or the first time she rolled over. I couldn't bear it.

Two weeks ago, another job came open. It was honestly all God. He was orchestrating everything to give us that extra push to get me home. I'm crying write now as I think about how He worked to make my dreams come true. 

It's not easy being home though. Now the hubs is bearing the entire financial burden. He has to provide for us. But, as he's told me multiple times, he wouldn't have it any other way. He wanted me home with our girl as much as I wanted to be home. Yes, he's working 14+ hours a day and yes it's hard on us...but it's worth it. And we fully believe God is orchestrating a way for the hubs to be able to spend more time with us. God has already made it to where the hubs gets to be home with us on the weekend! 

To help out, we've switched to cloth diapers in hopes of saving money on that. Also, we've limited our driving to one car. This saves money on gas for us. I do get the car once a week to make a grocery run or run other errands. And if there's a pinch, my mom comes by after work and watches Bug while I borrow her car. So far it's worked out great and saved us a lot of money. I'm thinking about couponing as well (any couponers out there with any advice?) to help with grocery costs. We've also refinanced our house, that's where we're getting money for the renovations, to help reduce our monthly payments. 

Being a stay-at-home-mommy means that we won't ever have nice things. We don't have cable TV, we don't have nice cars, we don't go out to eat, we don't have all the luxuries, but it is all worth it. To both of us. We feel it is important for me to be home. We feel that God is calling me to be home. Even though it's going to be tough, we know that God is going to provide for us as long as we listen to Him and follow where He leads us. 

And now for cuteness:

More on the Paint Front

So I may have jumped the gun with the whole "going brown" thing...I'm leaning toward different colors. We're having a hard time finding something due to the color of our shingles. They're this odd brown color and not the easiest thing to pair another paint color with.

I like this color combo.

source

I'm really loving this navy blue! In fact, this is what we're leaning towards and as of now our #1 choice! I can't decide though if I want to stay with that awesome yellow or go with an amazing red. Yes, this means I'm sacrificing my TARDIS blue door (I'm having mixed feelings about this).

source

I like this color as well, and with this color I can still do my TARDIS door!

source

Does brown go with grey?

source

Such a hard decision and it has to be the first decision made before the windows get installed. We might  be going to the HD this weekend to get samples. Unfortunately we won't be able to paint with those samples tomorrow because of a certain thing called rain and cold damp weather. 

I've started a Pinterest board with all my ideas on it. Hopefully I can get some organization to all these renovation thoughts floating around in my head.

the Cloth Diaper Adventures #2

Well, we're a week in with this whole cloth diapering adventure. How am I feeling?

I'm still loving it!

We're doing cloth the majority of the time. The only time we switch to disposable is if we're going to be gone for the day. This past Saturday we made a day trip to South Carolina, so we made the trip in disposable. But Sunday, when we went to church and small group, we made the trip in cloth. They did spectacular! 

Like I said, I'm still pretty much smitten with these things! I love that they seem to be so much softer on her bum.

her first time in camo!

Plus I think they just look cute on her bum!

I'm still getting the hang of the whole caring for them thing, so give me another week and next week's post will cover the diaper's care!

Is that not the cutest cow bum you've ever seen?!

2 Months! and St. Patrick's Day

Bug turned 2 months on St. Patty's Day!

Well, Bug passed the 13 lb mark! She is such a chunk and I love it! Also, she's starting to roll over! Or at least try to. She made it all the way over once while we were laying in bed, but typically she just makes it to her side and can't quite go the whole way. 

We also have a mover! 

I found her halfway off her mat! I just love the look she's giving me! So adorable!

She's still in 0-3 month clothing, but can also fit into 3-6 month! I put away all of her newborn clothes...and cried. But I found some really cute summer clothes that are 3-6 month that I'm excited for her to wear, so it made it all better.

We've also started transitioning her to her crib. So far she's spent two nights in there. It has altered her sleeping a little. The first night she woke up every 3 hours, but last night her long stretch was 4.5 hours. I'm thinking she might be going through another growth spurt. I am ready for her to get back to her 6 hours though! ** I'll do a whole post devoted to transitioning **

This was at our 2 month check-up. She did awesome! Then came the vaccines...She got her first shot. She screamed...I cried...It was not pretty. Of course, I think it hurt me more than it hurt her. We got home though and I decided it would be a day of cuddling. So that's all we did. Cuddle. I thoroughly enjoyed my day of cuddling! All she wanted to do was sleep and I was a-okay with that! I love having my Bug sleep in my arms!

Today my girl is back to her old self and just as happy and smile-y as can be! 

Dear Bug, I am just loving our time together! Each day you do something new! Even though I'm sad to see you growing up so quickly, I'm loving each new stage! You're no longer my newborn baby, but you've grown and are developing your own personality. I love that you're a little stingy with your smiles. It makes them so much more special when you give one. I love kissing your cheeks and "talking" with you! 

It's been such a great ride, Bug! You fit our family perfectly and I'm so excited to see you grow up!

Gitchee Gitchee Go (it means "I love you!")

Mommy and Daddy 

A Contest for the Bug! and a switch to Bloglovin'

Okay...so there's this photo contest going on on Facebook (of course). The picture with the most "likes" wins a free photo session!

So if y'all could help a girl out that would be great!

Just click here and like Cynthia Sparks Photography. Then find her album "Contest | Full Session Giveaway" and look for this adorable picture:

and "like" this picture! We would really appreciate it! I mean who couldn't vote for such an adorable face? I may be biased though.

Thanks in advance for the votes!

Also, as everyone knows, there's a big hoopla going on with Google Reader and how it will be leaving us (tear) so I too am making the switch to Bloglovin'! So you can now follow my blog with Bloglovin!

Home Work

I'm excited to announce that the hubs and I are starting to renovate our house! Y'all have no idea how excited I am about this! There's a whole lot I'm planning on doing with this little old house. 

Here's the list:

• new windows
• painting the exterior of the house
• redoing the guest bath
• redoing master bath
• finishing the basement, including adding a bathroom
• fixing the deck/fence

I can't wait to document the renovations! The first thing on the list is painting the house so that we can get the windows installed (squeal!). I'm so excited! 

Here are the forerunners for colors:

behr chocolate sprinkle

behr sweet Georgia brown

behr castle hill

The trim will be either white or cream. I'm so ready to get rid of the awful pink tinted trim and this horrible green color! Note: green is not a horrible exterior color, just the green that is our house is.

But most importantly whatever color our house is it must match my new front door color:

behr sapphire lace 

also known as TARDIS blue!

What color do you think is best for the exterior of the house and what would go best with my new door color?

the Cloth Diaper Adventures #1

I've decided to chronicle our adventures in cloth diapering our firstborn...

My personal favorite: her ladybug (or Minnie Mouse) diaper

Today we embarked on a journey...a cloth diapering journey. I always said that we would cloth diaper in hopes of saving money, plus it makes for an adorable baby bum.

A friend of mine told me about Alva Baby diapers. I immediately checked them out and saw how inexpensive they were...This is doable, I thought. After talking with the hubs, I picked out 25 and hit the purchase button. 

On their website, it says that it'll take 3-4 weeks for the diapers to get here. Good, I thought, that'll give me more time to prepare. Low and behold though, they turned up about a week later! It felt like Christmas opening up and looking at my new selection!

It took me another couple of days to actually wash them. I justified this with "researching" what the best method would be for pre-washing and caring for my diapers would be. But boy was I confused! There was so much debate on how to wash and how not to wash, and what detergent to use and not to use. Many methods contradicted each other and ended up just confusing me more than I already was. 

I eventually decided to just wing it. I knew what "not to do" and just made sure that I strayed away from those things. 

So today is our first day using cloth diapers. 

It's a learning process for me. One that I'm willing to work on and find the best method for us.

How cute is that jean bum?!

I'm excited about this journey that we're on! The hubs is anxious (more nervous) about learning the techniques of cloth diapering this weekend. 

I am proud to say that these diapers contained their first major poop! Typically this poop would have been a blowout in her disposable diapers, but the cloth diaper contained it! I was ecstatic! It's the little things.

Oh Baby!

Today I'm over at Homegrown and Healthy writing for their two weeks of Everything Baby series. I wrote about my initiation into Motherhood...They are also having a giveaway for some awesome things Baby! There are lots of prizes for our readers...Maybe one of you will win ;) I sure do hope so!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My week in Instagram

Trying the Bumbo for the first time. She loved it!

She fell asleep while playing.

Sleeping soundly

She's getting so big!

Keeping warm while it was snowing outside.

Snuggle time with Mommy.

I just love that hand!

I asked Daddy to watch her while I showered. I came back and they were both back asleep!

I love this blue eyed beauty! I wonder if her eyes will stay blue or if they'll change later on!

Feel free to follow me @ awood009

Sick days

This weekend was a rough one. The hubs was down with a stomach bug and I was left taking care of him and the baby girl. Now this was our first bout of having sickness in the house with a newborn and I was completely conflicted with what to do. Normally I don't let the hubs being sick bother me and I typically go about normally. But I've never had a new baby to worry about. 

So I played single parent for the weekend. It was rough. The first night the girl and I spent the night in the living room. I "slept" on the couch. I use the term "sleep" lightly. It was a rough night. Though the girl slept, I did not, and then I woke up smelling like dog (that's where my dog typically likes to lay when we're not looking). So the next day I cleaned up the guest room so that we could get to the bed and sleep in there. The second night the girl decided not to sleep, so I didn't either. 

From Friday morning to Sunday night, I barely got any sleep. Maybe 2 hour snatches here and there. Most of the time I was running here and there taking care of the girl and the hubs. To help me out I got out the Bumbo and gave it a try. 

She loved it. Thank goodness!

The hubs is now on the mend and back at work. But it was hard when he was down for the count. I didn't know what to do. I hated having to divide my attention between the two and I hated even more that he couldn't hold or be near our girl. Most of the time I made a mess of things and became completely overwhelmed. Luckily, the girl made gave me lots of smiles to help calm me down.

 It seems that the girl and I have avoided the illness (knock on wood) so we're going on as normal now. I've started a deep cleaning of the house so that we can continue to avoid sickness...speaking of which, my girl is sleeping, so rather than write this post I probably should be cleaning. Priorities right?