Ugh Ugh Ugh

Ugh, AGAIN. I am SO behind in my school assignments, and really it's all my fault. I've just been lazy... between taking care of Elah and trying to keep up with laundry and  housecleaning... I've just "forgotten" to do it. Now... it's not NEARLY as bad as last semester... now THAT was horrible. This semester consists of SO much reading, it's kicking my butt! And I only have 3 classes right now! My 4th starts in March, so I HAVE to get my butt in gear! LOL!  Ofcourse, I will manage, and do well this semester... I just have to stop staring at this beautiful little girl and get to work! I got a ton done tonight... atleast between waking Justin up to get Elah so I could continue to work!

A few exciting things...

I tried out our Ergo Carrier w/the Heart 2 Heart insert today... LOVE it! And Elah loved it too... she falls right to sleep in it, just like in the woven and moby! J, E, Mudgie, and myself walked down to the lake and back... it was SO beautiful today! And apparently it's supposed to be in the seventies tomorrow!

We bought a new camera! I'm so excited! We've been talking about getting a nice camera since... well since our honeymoon actually. Justin and I both love to take pictures, especially when we go on walks... and now that Elah is here, it's more important than EVER to document our lives! I can't wait for the battery pack to charge so we can start trying it out!

Oh and just for the record.... only 41 days until vacation! WOOHOO!

Changing for the Better

J and I are making many changes in our lives, both at home, in ourselves, and with our careers! You already know, if you read my blog, that we cloth diaper... well we are adding cloth wipes into the mix. I ordered some great wipes from gogreenpocketdiapers.com, yes I could have made my own, but when do I have the time? These wipes are lots of different colors, and each color is textured different. Some are just cotton stretchy fabric, some have ridges, some have bumps... but they will all do the job! One, maybe two, of these can handle a large bowel movement from Boogie (which is great considering she poops once every 5 or so days... and they are HUGE and nasty!) when typically I'd have to use several disposable wipes to get the job done! This is going to save us a ton of money! And it doesn't add much to my laundry considering I can just throw them in with our diapers!We are also going to try some 'green' household cleaners. I found some great "recipes" to try out that use baking soda, vinegar, water, and baby oil... I will let you know how that goes!

I've already mentioned that J and I are both on a path to a healthier lifestyle. I was cleared to start really exercising again at my 6 week checkup, so now I can start using the Wii Fit again! We are trying to buy more healthy, organic foods... and I have pretty much stopped drinking sodas. I will occasionally have a sprite or caffiene free pop, but it's very rare! I've also had to eliminate milk from my diet, it makes Boogie's belly hurt apparently. (That and broccoli actually). Cheese and other dairy products don't seem to bother her, just plain old milk. So I'm drinking soy milk and when I crave ice cream I've found some great soy and coconut options that are quite yummy! Last time I weighed myself I was down 24lbs, and I've pretty much stayed around that number for the past week or so... hopefully once I get to work out some more and when the weather stays pretty so I can walk the weight will start dropping off again!

Now for our careers. I can't go into much detail about J's decisions in this area, but I can tell you that he is starting the class for his dietary management certification! He's nervous, but excited, and I know he's going to do great! He loves what he is doing, and this is just the next step to making it a true career with great benefits! I am also making some changes to my plan... my original plan was to finish my A.A. and go on to get my Bacherlor's in Elementary Education and get my teacher's licensure... or if I went to UNCA to get my Bachelor's in Psychology w/Teaching Licesnsure. Well, since we have defintely decided to homeschool our children, I want to make sure that I will remain home throughout their childhood. (I speak in plural because obviously we plan on having more children after Boogie!) I will have to be gone for an entire semester to do student teaching if I continue on the path to becoming a teacher. So... here is my plan. I did some research on http://online.northcarolina.edu/. They offer a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology online, as well as a Master's Degree in Psychology online. My hope is to pursue those degrees and eventually, after my children are older, work with children with autism and other disorders. I might change my mind about the career I choose someday, but I don't think I'm going to sway on this change in heart for my degree. Having Boogie in my life has changed my perspective on a lot of things... I am BLESSED to be able to stay at home with her, and have a husband who is willing to support that dream and to support and want me to homeschool our children. I really look forward to that! (And the fact that I have a wonderful woman to look up to who also homeschools her children coughjanellecough... it makes it all that much better!).

I'm looking forward to all of these changes... and obviously with those changes will come MORE changes. Hopefully with a new job for J, possibly purchasing our first home, and eventually adding more children to the mix! Please pray for us as we start these new adventures... because they are defintely going to be adventures!

7 Weeks

Elah is 7 weeks old today, she is getting so big... so since we just got our hospital pictures in the mail this week... let's do a little flashback of my beautiful little girl!

Doesn't seem like that was 7 weeks ago... pretty soon she'll be turning 6 months... and then that will fly by and she'll be 1. UGH! Happy 7 weeks baby girl, you light up my world!

Happy Day AFTER Valentine's Day!

I hope EVERYONE had a wonderful Valentine's Day, and I hope that you continue to show your loved ones how much they mean to you BEYOND the holiday of love! My wonderful husband had some beautiful flowers delivered to our home for me, and he also bought me chocolate. I was one happy momma! J also got Elah a SWEET little plush baby doll that says "My First Valentine's Day", it is adorable! I had no idea what to do for J, he is really hard to buy for! I was hoping to squeeze in a photo session on Sunday, but unfortunately the place we like to go was completely booked. So, I scheduled an appointment at the studio yesterday and we had family photos made! The photos turned out great! Well.... again, Happy Valentine's Day!

Fluffy Mail!

I just wanted to share the abundance of fluffy mail we will be getting in the next 2 weeks... so I thought I'd just share pictures of all of our goodies. THANK YOU Elah for coming in 2010 so we could claim you on our taxes... not only are you precious, beautiful, and perfect... you have wonderful timing as well! ;-)

First up is my dolcino wrap...

Isn't it pretty? It's a woven wrap, this one is called 'stromboli'... I can't wait to start wearing Elah in it!

Next up are a TON of diapers. Now I want have to do diaper laundry so often and can stop buying sposies!
These are all Go Green Pocket Diapers (gogreenpocketdiapers.com):

Then I ordered a few Happy Heinys...

I will also be getting several wet bags from GoGreenPocketDiapers.com and a "mystery" diaper from Kelly's Closet, where I ordered the Happy Heinys.... meaning a free random diaper of their choosing. I can't wait!

Where You Go I Go

I'm hooked on this song called "I Will Follow" by Chris Tomlin... the words have spoken to my heart and I've been humbled.

Where you go, I'll go

Where you stay, I'll stay

When you move, I'll move

I will follow...

All your ways are good

All your ways are sure

I will trust in you alone

Higher than my side

High above my life

I will trust in you alone

Where you go, I'll go

Where you stay, I'll stay

When you move, I'll move

I will follow you

Who you love, I'll love

How you serve I'll serve

If this life I lose, I will follow you

I will follow you

Light unto the world

Light unto my life

I will live for you alone

You're the one I seek

Knowing I will find

All I need in you alone, in you alone

In you there's life everlasting

In you there's freedom for my soul

In you there joy, unending joy

And I will follow

I know that in my walk with Christ I have fallen over and over again... I am not consistent in my one on one time with Him, I do not pray enough, I do not read enough, I don't do ANYTHING enough. I'm going to work harder and find ways to remind myself to make Jesus FIRST in my life. I want to go where He goes, I want to stay where He stays, when He moves I want to move. I want to love who He loves, I want to serve who He serves... and when my life on earth is over, I want to follow in His footsteps. Again... I am humbled.

Sleepy Saturday

Something miraculous happened last night... I laid Elah down around 8:45pm, got a ton of homework done, and then she woke back up around 10:45. Fed her, cuddled with her, and got her back down around 11:30pm.... neither one of us woke up again until 5:30am. That is SIX hours.... I got SIX beautiful hours of uninterrupted, blissful sleep. Thank you LORD, for a good night of rest! I felt like a new woman today, I felt normal! I have a feeling that tonight won't be quite as successful as last night, but I am appreciative of atleast one night of catch up!

FABULOUS Friday!

I have gotten more sleep in the past 24 hours then I have since Elah was born! WOOHOO! Ofcourse... with all that sleep I got, now I can't sleep... go figure! Anyways, I fed her and put her down aroun 8pm last night, she woke around 12am as usual. Went back down and woke up at 4am. That's when she's always bright eyed and bushy tailed (I use that saying all the time... but what the crap does it MEAN?), so Justin held her while he was getting ready for work so I could have a few minutes to myself, and then we got settled in the
recliner and slept until 7am. After that, we went back to my room and layed down in the bed and snuggled, and slept for four more hours! It was heavenly! I don't normally like her sleeping in the bed with me, it makes me incredibly nervous, but honestly she sleeps the best when she's beside me like that. I'm seriously debating on whether we might try cosleeping or not. I'd love to buy one of those arm's reach cosleepers, but we need a pack n play more for future use... decisions, decisions. It would be safer and make me feel better, but we shall see.

Throughout the day I started noticing some pain in my right elbow, anytime I pick Elah up or put weight on it, it just throbs. I have no idea what I did to it, but it is making taking care of Elah a little more difficult. I put a heating pad on it and then a cold rag to try to relieve the pain... haven't taken any Ibuprofen yet, but I may have too. As I am typing it's just throbbing... ugh.

Other than that, I'm just working on school and trying to make time to do laundry and clean house. Luckily, Justin LOVES me and has been cleaning :). I'm also hoping to make time to start singing/writing/playing guitar again. I have some lyrics swimming around in my head for my little munchkin... if I ever get it down on paper, I'll share it! God Bless!

Thankful Thursday

OK, so it's 3am and Justin has given me the oppurtunity to sleep tonight while he takes care of Elah... all I have to do is feed her, because... well, obviously daddy isn't equipped for that LOL! Elah is wide awake and so I am laying in bed, wide awake as well, listening for her cries (she is in the living room w/J)... ugh. I am thankful for a husband willing to step up and let me rest... I just wish I ccould relax enough to just do so!

Oh... and if you didn't know... breastmilk is like liquid gold, and I pumped over 2 ounces after feeding Elah at 2am. What did I do w/that liquid gold you ask? Dumped it in the kitchen floor... literally almost cried over spilt milk. Best mom ever... UGH!

Windy Wednesday

Wooo! It is WINDY today! The weather was SO beautiful on Sunday... why couldn't it have stayed that pretty?!?!? UGH!

Anywho...

Well, night before last Elah slept AMAZINGLY! She woke at 8pm, 12am, 4am, and then 6am (she starts eating every 2 hours during the day). She went right to sleep after each feeding, so I got a TON of sleep! Last night was a totally different story unfortunately. She fell asleep at 5pm... and I thought nothing of it, because she didn't sleep as much during the day... then was up at 8pm and slept until 12am...... after that she was awake ALL night. She wasn't fussy unless I tried to put her down, but she even refused to sleep on my chest.... she wanted to stay up!!!! So this morning was rough, she slept a little this morning but not enough for me to get a good sleep. Luckily, Justin is off tomorrow, so he has agreed to take care of her tonight and just wake me up to feed her. YAY! I can't wait to get a good night of sleep! Don't get me wrong, it is SO worth it, and I in NO way wish she was back in my belly on nights like last night... but I am BEAT!