"Let me see that casserole!"

Jon and I always sing (to the tune of "Let me see that Tootsee Roll") this to each other whenever I make this delicious enchilada casserole. Enjoy!

2 cans cream of chicken/cream of mushroom soup

1-2 Bell Pepper chopped

1/2 Onion chopped

2 small cans of diced green chilies

1 pkg of tortillas (you'll probably only use about 5 or 6)

1 pkg of Shredded cheese

2-3 cubed/shredded chicken breasts, cooked (you can use the cubed chicken in the can, about 2 cans will work. I like to grill two chicken breasts and then shred.)

1 can sliced black olives (optional)

Saute the bell peppers, onion, and green chilies (with juice) in sauce pan. Add creamed soup and chicken pieces. Heat through. Layer casserole dish with torn tortilla pieces, then casserole mixture, and top with cheese. Repeat layers until all casserole mixture is used. The more cheese you use the better! Bake at 350 for 45 min to 1 hour.

Now let me see your casserole!! To the left, to the left......now dip baby, dip.....with tortilla chips!

Month 7

Wow! Lots seems to have happened. Current stats for baby girl are as follows: 13lbs 15oz, 26.5 in long, and finally fitting into 6 month clothes! She is maintaining her 5% growth so the doctor is happy. She received her final round of the flu shots and later that day developed a very runny nose. The next day her nose was even worse and had a bit of a temp, however after one dose of Tylenol she was fine. She was a little cranky but mainly just sleepy. Day 3.....a tooth had broken through! The left bottom incisor. The right one seems to be close behind. Here we go, down the road of teething.

Hadley's sitting up by herself, which now gives us the freedom to put her in high chairs in the restaurant or the shopping cart. She's not real interested in tummy time anymore since she can sit on her own. This prevents her from practicing her crawling. Although, while on her tummy she does show signs of trying to move to get stuff but her interest quickly wanes and she's on to something easier.

We tried the nursery at church for the first time this past weekend. It didn't go well, as was expected. In our unsureness (if that's a word) of how to do this whole thing we handed her over too quickly and walked out the door. She was screaming by the time we walked out the door. About 10 mins. later someone came and got us out of church to tend to her. Our dear friend Kacy was working hard to calm her down and almost had her calm by the time I got there. I ended up staying in there for a while with her so she could get used to all the other babies and adults in the room. She played fine for about 30 mins. so I decided I'd try to leave again. I guess she lasted for a few minutes more and then started crying again. Kacy took her outside and she calmed down and actually slept for a few minutes. Poor girl! It's hard because she usually naps during this time but I know there's too much going on for her to do that. We're going to keep trying but I think we'll gradually leave her this next time instead of rushing out.

Jon and I did ok with it. Yeah right....we were pretty anxious. We have a lot of work to do ourselves. We will keep trying though.

She's still a good eater. I need to figure out what foods come next and if I want to take the time to make them myself or just start buying commercial made food. Big thing about making my own baby food is the meats are a little involved so she hasn't had a taste of any of those. I'm sure it's not a big deal but I want her to at least try them out. She loves our Christmas tree and anything she can get in her mouth, most notably technological devices. She's into saying "mamamama" or "dadadada" a lot but of course doesn't know what they mean. That about does it for this month. I know these next few months are going to be busy for her and we look forward to it all!

Her cute little hat!

She likes to sit up in her bouncer now, and lean over the side. It might be time to put it away!

Asking new questions

This thought came to me as I thought about those around me who are going through personal struggles. I'm sure it's not a new idea by any means but one I hope to keep close at hand. Sub-conscientiously when I go through a tough time my initial reaction is: "what did I do to deserve this? I must have done something wrong, where did I mess up?" I take a lot of time to figure out why I'm receiving a "consequence".

I suppose there's a lot of theology/philosophy around whether God gives us trials to endure, etc. I'm not quite sure where I stand on that. I don't believe God punishes us, but I do believe there are natural consequences for our actions. These consequences can manifest themselves physically, mentally, or emotionally.

However, this rephrasing of my question comes in those situations that are just hard to explain why they're happening, except that we are imperfect humans living in an imperfect world.

Drum roll please......

Instead of asking, "Why is this happening?" What if we started asking, "God what do you want me to do as a result of this situation?"

I believe for me and maybe other people, this would take the victim role out of the situation, like we are entitled to have a great, easy life, as well as help us rise up out of the hurt, sadness, anger, etc. We start to focus on what we can learn and perhaps that's what God wants out of that situation. Maybe we're not receiving a consequence for the past maybe God is preparing us for something else in the future.

Your thoughts, experiences?

This year's going to be different

Or at least that's what I think. I love Christmas! It's definitely my favorite holiday of the year. I think it's because of all the great traditions I had as a kid. First was decorating, mostly it was my mom and I but my dad helped with getting the outside lights up and my dad and brother would occasionally help decorate the tree. We went shopping for the Christmas tree as a family, usually at Home Depot. Decorating the tree, reading the bible as we set up the manger, getting together with family, going to church on Christmas eve and sometimes driving around the neighborhood at night to look at all the lights were all great memories. Then came Christmas morning. I can't remember at what age I realized Santa didn't exist, it was when I figured out the writing on the presents belonged to my mom. I wasn't devastated as some kinds might have been, in fact I remember kind of laughing inside, how would that big ol' guy get down the chimney anyway?

On with the story, I usually woke up first, some years I even heard "santa" filling the stockings late at night. I'd wake up usually around 4 or 5 in the morning and go out into the den to the fireplace that would still have coals burning. I'd take all the presents out of my stocking and lay them neatly on the fireplace bench. Then I'd go out to the living room to look at the presents under the tree. Sometimes I'd plug the lights in and just sit there looking at the tree. I even fell asleep on the couch next to the tree once or twice. If I just couldn't wait any longer I'd go wake up my brother and he'd get all his stocking presents laid out and then we'd wake up our parents. Stocking presents came first and then the real presents. After everything was opened, my parents made breakfast while my brother and I played with our presents. Of course, some of these changed as my brother and I got older, like getting up early to open presents, but we kept most of our traditions.

I've had no real traditions since leaving home. Some traditions Jon and I have started and kept since being married are getting a real tree, usually at Home Depot, and giving each other gifts early....sometimes like 2 weeks early!! We still have that child-like giddiness of not being able to wait! Now with Hadley we have talked a little about traditions we'd like to start with her, although it's hard this year just because she's so little, she can't really participate.

What's going to be different you may ask? For one, I'd like to not focus so much on the gifts. While I don't see ever getting rid of that aspect completely (and I don't feel it's necessary to eliminate completely) I'd like to have our focus on what's important. Very cliche I know, but it really is a desire I have and one I want for our children. I think one way to make this happen is to just cut back on the number of gifts we give each other and other people. I'd also like to make sure there is a giving spirit that my children have, and not so much in material things, although adopting a family may be a different story, but giving in their time and energy.

One other tradition I'd like to start is lighting an advent wreath and reading scripture. I created a wreath and hope that this weekly act of worship as a family will keep us focused on Christ and not presents. Once Hadley gets a little older I'd like to make an advent calendar that includes actions (read, sing, give, create, etc) to keep us focused on Christ and maybe some candy for each day. ;)

I don't foresee preventing Hadley from experiencing Santa or not filling a stocking for her to discover, however I hope that the traditions we set will be Christ-centered and they will be ones that our children will keep with them always. May you and your families be blessed this Christmas!

There's a new salad on the block

This is one my absolute favorite recipes that I've found in the past. It's called Apple Almond Crunch. By the way thanks to all those who shared their recipes on the last post...keep 'em coming.

I'm not going to put exact measurements because I think with salads it's really all "to taste".

Romaine Lettuce

1 Granny smith apple, cubed

Slivered almonds

Golden raisins

Feta cheese

Raspberry vinegar dressing

Red Onion

Simply mix all the ingredients together, adding as much of each as you like! Enjoy!

Oh Waiter! There's a fly in my soup!

This is what customers would say if I were the chef because I'd probably think it was one of the ingredients! Ok not really, I've gotten better at cooking since being married, but when you make cookies with confectioner's sugar instead of granulated sugar....you've got a problem! There are things I can make really well....grilled cheese sandwiches, pancakes, blueberry muffins are among the few. So a goal of mine while I'm now staying at home is to build my repertoire and skills of cooking. My poor husband has been such a trooper. Although I haven't burned too many dinners, the variety has been fairly limited. In hopes of getting some delicious, simple, and fairly healthy recipes from fellow friends, I wanted to share some of our favorites (selfish I know).

This particular one is from a cookbook called "Make it in Minutes" (my kind of recipes):

Pasta Fagioli

1 jar (26oz) Ragu chunky gardenstyle pasta sauce

1 can (19oz) white kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 box (10oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed

8 oz ditalini pasta (also called salad macaroni), cooked and drained. (reserve 2 cups of pasta water)

1. In 6 qt. saucepot, combine Pasta sauce, beans, spinach, pasta and reserved pasta water; heat through.

2. Season if desired, with salt, pepper and grated parmesan cheese.

Makes 4 servings

Variations: I've added chopped zuchini which will require a little more cooking to soften it, or you can pre-cook the zuchini and add it to the mix. I've also used white (navy) beans in place of the kidney beans just because I couldn't find the white "kidney" beans at the time. You also may want to use more pasta sauce if you'd like to have more of a "soup".

There it is! If you'd like to share a recipe I'll take it!! ;) Either leave it in the comment section or write it in your own blog for others to copy. Stay tuned for next week's recipe....my new

favorite salad!

*A note: the sugar mixup happened pre-marriage so Jon avoided having to taste those cookies!

Month 6

Today is the 6 month mark of when we welcomed our little girl into the world. I'd always hear so many people say, "it goes by fast, before you know it they'll be out of the house and on their own." I could never wrap my head around it but now I can. These 6 months have gone by sooo incredibly fast and while they have been the hardest 6 months as far as a "job" goes they have been the most exciting and fulfilling months ever.

Not much to report on these 6 months. I have certainly taken the time recently to hug and kiss her as much as possible and thank God for her. She truly is a blessing to us. She's started some other foods aside from rice cereal. We've tried Golden Delicious Apples, which she thinks are, in fact, delicious. We've also had butternut squash, sweet potatoes, and pears. Next on the list: bananas and peas. So far she likes them all! Fortunately, we were given a baby food maker that makes making baby food a snap! (could you follow that?) So I've been able to make all her baby food thus far mainly because it's fun but the freshness/nutrition is an added benefit. She's getting close to sitting up on her own and definitely does not like it when we leave the room. So in honor of her half birthday here is a photo timeline.

At the hospital

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

Hand-made flowers

Here is my latest sewing project step by step or at least close to it. I made flowers out of fabric to match Hadley's bedding as some decor for her room. I did my best to document with photos.

Step 1: Cut out a pattern.

Step 2: Fasten Pattern to washed and ironed fabric. I folded the fabric in half (right sides facing each other) so I could cut out the front and back of the flower at the same time. (and eat a cookie while you do it)

Step 3: Cut out pattern. I left about a 1/4" allowance around the edges for the seam.

Step 4: I marked one "petal" on both the pattern and both pieces of fabric to keep the edges matched up.

Step 5: Create a pattern for the center of the flower and fasten to fabric. (The center is only one layer.)

Step 6: Cut it out leaving approximately 1/4" seam allowance.

Step 7: Using fusable webbing and the center pattern cut out another circle, no need for a seam allowance.

Step 8: Place fusable webbing in the center of the right side of the flower. Place fabric center on top of fusable webbing. Using steam and an iron on low heat, iron the center, making it adhere to the flower. This helps keep the center in place when you sew it on. If there is a seam allowance on the center fabric, you'll fold it under as you iron. I found out this seam allowance was more of an issue than a necessity so on my next flower I didn't bother with it.

Step 9: Using a zig-zag stitch, sew around the edge of the center. I made the width of the stitch as wide as possible and the length very short to create a close stitch.

Step 10: Place fabric flower on batting and cut out. Another personal choice at this stage is whether to have a seam allowance on the batting, I didn't, hard to say if it would've helped. I used 3 layers of batting to create a puffy, 3-D look.

Step 11: Using the markings on the one petal of the fabric (from step 4), match the edges back up and then fasten to the batting. Make sure the batting edges match up also since the fabric petals will be a unique cut.

Step 11: Sew along the edges with a regular straight stitch. I left one "petal" unsewn so I could flip the batting and fabric right-side out. Use your hand to push on the edges from the inside. I found it easiest to have the fabric on the bottom and the batting on the top so the batting doesn't get caught on the feed dog. (No pictures of this step.)

Step 12: Using a needle and thread that closely matches the main fabric color, do a whip stitch to close up the open pedal.

To the right is the whip stitch, hardly noticeable.

Step 13: Staple to the wall and enjoy! ( I don't have them all stapled to the wall obviously but they're all done!)

This picture makes these flowers look awfully weird and uneven, while they're certainly far from perfect around the edges they don't look as bad in person.

I created the two smaller flowers to accompany the big flower following the same steps (odd numbers are more pleasing to the eye right?). I then used regular staples to hang it on the wall. They were easy to hide close to the seam and they don't leave huge holes in the wall! There were a lot of things I may do differently if I did this over again but overall it was a fairly easy project. And again, while the flowers are do not have the perfect rounded petals they do closely resemble the bedding which also adds a more "kid-like" flavor to it.

Month 5

Yay! All Done!

So month 5 has come and gone, it went so fast. The biggest thing this month was the weight issue, which was explained in like the last 3 posts so feel free to read those. We did a weight check this last Friday, mainly for my peace of mind. Hadley was spitting up so much I thought for sure she had lost weight but turns out she gained 4 oz! So she's up to 11lbs 13oz and we're doing weight checks every two weeks now until the 6 month check up.

Rice cereal is going well, we're doing that twice a day now. She still is using her tongue a little too much to push the food out but we manage to get 95% of the food down. We got some literature from the Ped. that kind of alluded to not giving anything but rice cereal until she's 6 months but I think I may try a veggie or two in about another week, it'll be close enough to 6 months! She's still a great sleeper, although I think she's getting to a point where she wants to stay up a little longer during the day which is totally fine with me as long as she isn't cranky!

She's getting better at sitting up although I think we're still a ways off from her sitting up on her own. She's a rollin' over fool, mainly just from back to front. She can roll from front to back but I don't think she sees any real importance in doing that right now so she just doesn't.

Jon and I are loving being parents, and we finally went out on a date this past week. We did the baby dedication at church this weekend, this is not a baptism for those who are unfamiliar with it. It's where we go up on stage and dedicate in front of the church, family, and friends that we are going to raise Hadley up with godly principals and pray for her. The church gives you an envelope with a picture of your family in it, a "first bible", a certificate, and a card. It was very nice.

Family photo shown in church for the baby dedication

Yet another update

Here's an update on Hadley for those who are interested.

We've been doing weekly weight checks, longer feeding times, rice cereal (we just recently moved to two times a day), and added a 5th feeding at 4am. All this combined is helping her gain a consistent 3 oz each week. That puts her on the 5th% curve for weight and is keeping her on the curve which makes the doctor happy. The doctor would rather she be gaining more weight but he's happy that she's at least being consistent and gaining better than she apparently was.

She's still sleeping a lot which seems to puzzle the doctor a little bit but I think she's just a sleeper. We were given the green light to go to weight checks every two weeks until her 6 month check up but she has just recently started spitting up a lot (which had decreased for a short amount of time). I didn't know if it had anything to do with starting rice cereal but when I mentioned it to the doctor he didn't seem too concerned. Although he said I could keep my weekly weight check for this week in case the spitting up got worse he really thought it shouldn't effect her weight and therefore not a problem.

So...she's up to 11lbs 9 oz, rolling over like crazy, laughing a lot and loving rice cereal. I'm not so freaked out about this anymore, because she's developing fine and content when awake. Not to mention...she's almost 5 months old....WOW!!

Update

Here's the scoop....

At the weight check today she had gained 4oz in the last 3 days which puts her at 11lb. I made the mistake of saying something like, "well ok, we'll just keep up feeding for longer periods" out loud and the nurse kinda freaked out and started asking me all the questions like "why would you need to do that?" and I was trying to explain things to her. When I mentioned that Hadley was sleeping 11 hours at night she again, freaked out like she shouldn't be sleeping that long, to which I immediately said, "If I wake her up, she'll be too tired to eat anyways, so I just let her sleep." I had been feeding her for about 30 minutes, and the doctor suggested supplementing with a bottle after nursing to see if she was still hungry. I was a little leery about doing that because I was afraid she'd get even more lazy and only take the bottle. So I decided to try to see if she'd eat for longer than 30 minutes. She kind of did but it was a bit of work, however she didn't want the bottle after eating for 45 minutes or more so I thought that was a better option. After seeing she gained weight with these longer feedings I figured we'd just keep it up, as crazy as it seems to feed her for close to an hour.

The doctor called later this afternoon and said he was glad to see she put on some weight, I was filled with relief. He then followed it with (this is a summary) "So we need to fit one more feeding in during the day since she's sleeping so much at night, which probably means feeding her every 3 hours during the day (we were doing every 5) because sometimes babies sleep so long because they don't get enough calories and they go into a calorie depravation mode and sleep." At these words my heart sank and I started having thoughts that I had deprived my baby of calories/nutrition for the last two months because I thought she was just a good sleeper. "We also need to have you come in for weekly weight checks for the next few weeks to stay on top of this and make sure she doesn't fall behind again." We do like our doctor but this certainly has been a struggle....she seems happy, developmentally on track, and she is growing, just not very much in the weight area so it's hard to see what the big deal is.

I think this week, until the next weight check, we're going to just stick with longer eating times and see what that does, if it doesn't work then I may have to pump and we'll just do strictly bottles....I'm not sure I'm ready to do formula since we've worked so hard at this breast feeding thing. Although it's hard to know what's best for Hadley, like should we just do bottles so she'll get more and we won't have to question how much she's getting? Aye, aye, aye (is that how you spell it??).

On the rice cereal front, we finally tried it tonight and she did ok. Her little tongue kept pushing it out so I think we'll take it slow until she gets her tongue working right to keep the food in. She seemed to like the taste, at least she didn't show any dislike to it. I'll put pictures up on facebook later.

Month 4

Enjoying Tummy Time

Our precious little girl has passed her 4 month mark this last weekend. We still think she's the cutest girl around. We often find ourselves talking about the little things she does, like the faces she makes and we like to go look at her sleeping away in her crib. She's getting longer and we thought she was growing just fine but the doctor didn't like her lean figure. At her check up she received her vaccines and we got to ask our long list of questions but the majority of the time was spent talking about her weight. At 2 months she weighed 10lbs 3oz and at 4 months she weighed 10lbs 12oz, gaining a total of 9oz. Not so good. The doctor even weighed her again for us and it came up the same. The doctor has seen this before in babies her age, but he seems to think that either I'm not making enough milk or she's not sucking very well (i.e. she's a lazy eater). Soooooo, back to getting weight checks. We have to go back this Friday to check it and if she hasn't gained any weight, we'll talk to the doctor again about what to do. Possible options from there are going to strictly bottle feeding (breastmilk or formula). The weird thing is she has been seeming completely satisfied after eating sooo......???? Until Friday, she's nursing and then we're offering her a little extra out of a bottle (more pumping for me!! woohoo! I'll do what I have to do).

I'm handling it a lot better this time around then when we had this problem in the first few weeks she was born. It's still easy to let thoughts creep in like 'I'm not doing enough' or that 'she's been deprived of proper nutrition for the last two months and can that effect her long term?' But I just pray about it when I get these negative thoughts and realize that most likely this is just an issue of her being kind of lazy. I certainly feel for those parents who have to deal with more serious issues and constant doctor's appointments.

In a more positive note, this has been a fun month. She's almost rolled completely over from back to front, she just gets her arm stuck under her. She still enjoys tummy time most days and will smile at most everybody. She'll laugh on rare occasions and then Jon and I work so hard to get her to do it again and she stares at us like we're from another planet. We are going to try rice cereal tonight, which I'm excited about. Hadley's also gotten really good at grabbing things and she's starting to stare at her hands when she grabs them. She's great at sucking her thumb when she wants it, which makes falling asleep much more peaceful and she does great sleeping in her crib. Finally, she looovvvveeess books. If you read a book to her she'll get really excited and talk up a storm while you read, I think she's trying to read with me but....she just stares at all the pictures, I'm glad she's liking it already, hopefully that will continue. I'll write an update about the weight issue and how the rice cereal goes!

Just waking up from a nap, but it looks like she's saying "uh oh..."

Taking a short nap on mom's lap.

Perceptions

I was at the grocery store today, in the produce department and an older man (probably in his 50's) walked past and noticed Hadley in the car seat. Ok, freeze the story right there, this man was probably about 5' 8", bald and I mean a shiny bald head, had tattoos up both arms, a long salt and pepper mustache thing. Continuing with the story....he smiled real big and said, "Aww what a cute little girl. My wife and I just got back from visiting our two granddaughters up in Montana, one is 7 months and one is 8 months." I made small talk with him about making the trip that far to see grandkids and it was a very pleasant conversation.

I imagine that at first some people reading this would think he would have been rude, or said something weird. His appearance certainly could have been a barrier/deception, but he was quite friendly and my "motherly instincts" were not alerted. It felt like talking to one of my parents' friends.

I always wonder how our culture got so unfriendly to strangers? There is a lot of crime and a lot of weirdos out there, I don't deny that at all. However, I think it might be safe to say that people in general are not out to hurt us, so why do we ignore another person when passing them on the sidewalk or in the grocery store? Is it all a matter of our perceptions of people? The stereo-types that someone dressed a certain way can't be friendly? Or might be a weirdo, boring, cranky, etc?

After working with people in a South Tucson neighborhood, I've had some of my own stereo-types dissolved. My perceptions are certainly flawed but I often wonder what kind of conversations I could have with people if I put those aside (unless my gut says the person is a threat) and talked? Some people who seem like ordinary people always seem to have extraordinary stories.

Fun Jobs

Ok so I was thinking about this the other day NOT because I don't love my job now (it is absolutely the best!) . However, I imagine at some point in my life I may return to the workforce. I saw something on TV that got me thinking, if I could do any job in the world without any limitations or restrictions what would I want to do? Here are a few I thought of in no particular order....

Marine biologist -however I'm terrified of swimming in the ocean, go figure.

Tour guide - maybe in a museum, on a boat somewhere, around a city, not really sure where would be the most fun.

Zoologist

Education director at a museum/aquarium

Family/marriage counselor

Own a Shlotzsky's/Chik-Fil-A franchise near my house (this probably wouldn't be fun for very long...) ;)

Teach adults computer skills

Consult for businesses on boosting morale/computer skills

Game and Fish officer/Forest Service Ranger

Author

Open and run a center to help people learn workplace skills and get connected with jobs

Interior Designer

Professional Photographer for National Geographic

Again, a lot of these jobs require knowledge/training/skills that I don't have but putting that aside I think these professions would be fun!

Randomness

I've had a lot of things on my mind this week so here goes....(since these are current events I am in no way intending to direct this at any one person or cause offense to anyone, seriously, I mean that.)

Why are women so insecure in their relationships when they were designed to be more relational than men? I often find myself insecure around other women. I'm too shy to talk to them, I don't always feel like I know what to say or what questions to ask, I feel like most women have other friends in their lives that they enjoy spending time with rather then hanging out with me, I feel like my thought process is not like the rest so the conversation may be awkward....I could keep going but what's funny is when I share this with other women, they feel the exact same way!!! Well most do anyways. I like to look back at my previous relationships and try to figure out if they're to blame, because it certainly can't be anything I did (kidding of course). I certainly have had my fair share of friendships that have not survived for a variety of reasons, most recently I've felt not important enough to even get a phone call or email from a friend. In past friendships I always felt like I was the one initiating everything and so got tired of making all the calls and in a sense "bugging" them, thus leading to a friendship diminished. Now being older it seems like it's harder to make friends. I want to hang out with the women that I'm friends with now but how do I overcome my insecurities and past hurts to just do it and not think that this new friendship might end like all those in the past?

Another topic.....group dynamics. I love it and I hate it! After growing up in the church and being actively involved in sunday school, youth group and now adult life groups I've seen many good things come out of these groups and a few bad things. When I was in the youth group I saw quite a few pastors come and go as well as youth coaches. I learned a lot about church...you go for worship not the people! People will always let you down. I saw a lot of people strive to work in the ministry and come to Christ! I saw a lot of relationships strengthened, marriages included, and I even met my husband in one of these groups! Lately, I've been semi-inspired to write a book about what to do and what not to do when creating and growing life groups, to the point where I've been writing down notes. I've fallen into leadership positions (or maybe I've put myself there, I don't really know) and while I like it and feel that "pastoring" is a God-given gift I also struggle to please everyone and that soooo doesn't work in life. I feel as though I've digressed here. My point... why can't people in the kingdom of God get along without hurt or offense? Why can't there be unity where we compromise and love each other despite the outcome instead of blaming each other? Why can't we stop complaining about the wrongs done to us and start actively loving others?

A little lighter subject....parenting. I love it! It's certainly difficult at times. I do feel my opinion on certain styles/methods are a little strong sometimes and I need to be aware of my audience, although, conversely, there are times I wish other parents would have mentioned things to me while we were preparing for Hadley. It's hard to know I guess when it's appropriate to say stuff and when it's not. I think this week I came to the realization that I'm paranoid about being a paranoid parent, that's not who I am. Uggh, gotta pray about that one! Anyhow, the girl is sleeping in her crib for the first time and it was harder than I thought it would be to put her in there but I think it will be better for all of us. The good news is she fell asleep just fine!

I think that's all for now, well I know there was more but I can't remember. Comments? Questions? Concerns?

Month 3

A few days premature but oh well. This month has been so much fun! Hadley has really gotten a lot better at sleeping and is now on a great routine. She's super happy when she's awake and falls asleep easily (usually within 2-5 minutes with a little crying). We stuck with the "cry it out" method and I highly recommend it!! It's hard at first but I'd say after about 3 or 4 days the crying decreased significantly. It was a lot of work and pretty stressful for Jon and I to be walking around trying to calm her down and get her to fall asleep and we figured if she's crying anyways why should we stress ourselves out by trying to calm her down when she can do it on her own and do it faster. The first few days we'd set her down she'd cry for about 30-45 minutes and we'd just keep ourselves busy in another part of the house (with the monitor on but low volume) and she'd fall right to sleep. It not only has given me more confidence in helping her but I also feel like she's developed a shred of independence at her young age and that makes a mother proud! I think she's become an excellent sleeper (and she loves it) and it will help her in the years to come!

Some other fun developments this month: She loves playing with her tongue, smiles a ton (still waiting for a laugh), getting her fists to her mouth, waking up twice during the night at the most, and just yesterday she sat up like a big girl in her Bebe seat (with a little slouching). This has been a wonderful month so far and I am beyond excited to watch her grow! I look forward to feeding her rice cereal and making it myself, I look forward to her sitting up and rolling over! Oh so many fun things about having a baby! I know it's bitter-sweet but I really look forward to her being an independent little girl!

On a personal note, I've kept up my reading, I've been trying to read a book a month and last month I read two!! I've been into learning more about Afghanistan and Pakistan and have found a few good books that I would highly recommend. However, I really feel my ability to hold a coherent conversation has decreased greatly and my mental math abilities have also decreased (very specific I know). So I think it's about time to get started on that writer's guild curriculum so I can keep my brain sharp. We'll see! Jon and I are also talking about doing a bible study together so hopefully we can be disciplined in that!

10 mas cosas

Here we go again! (Nice espanol eh? I'm not sure if that's correct grammar but oh well...)

Reasons I am content with life......

1. I enjoy living in Tucson

2. We are financially secure

3. Our families get along with each other

4. Did I mention we have the cutest little girl?

5. We have Rock Band to keep us entertained

6. We have a washer and dryer

7. We have a king size bed (upgraded from a full)

8. We have dependable friends

9. We are trusted to be leaders in ministry

10. I have people who pray for me

Your turn...share a reason(s) you are grateful or content.

10 Reasons to be content

I often find myself looking to the future for things to come so I'm determined to be content with what God has given me...here it is.

1. I have a wonderfully loving and committed husband

2. I have a healthy daughter who is absolutely adorable

3. I have a house that keeps us warm in the winter and shields us from the blazing heat

4. I have a God who loves me regardless and lavishes His grace on me

5. I have a working car to get me where I need/want to go

6. I get to stay at home with my daughter

7. I have friends and family that I love and who love me

8. I am healthy

9. I am part of a community that loves God and serves others

10.  I enjoy laughing with people

Stay tuned...more to come.

(obviously this blog has slightly deviated from posting about my "hobbies".)

Month 2

What a difference a month makes! I heard so many people say (even the nurses when we were at the hospital) if you can make it past the first 6 weeks you'll be fine. I think I do look back and those first 6 weeks were the hardest! I saw Dave White last night and he asked me what the hardest part of being a parent was so far and immediately I answered, "having to make decisions for Hadley". While our first month was flooded with trying to get the feeding down the second month has been plagued with making decisions. Conversely, Dave asked what the best part was and I replied, "just looking at her beautiful face" and adding to that, "knowing God has entrusted us with the cutest little girl".

So what decisions were facing us this month? (as if we weren't making decisions before this), How to help our little girl be happy. Sounds like an elusive job but we were starting to notice that she wasn't sleeping well and therefore becoming very fussy as would any of us! So I began thinking that she was becoming over-stimulated throughout the day and not being able to calm herself down to sleep. Much to my chagrin, I started making things quiet around the house during the day so she could get some much needed rest. I also started putting her on her stomach to sleep (gasp!!). We had started putting her to bed around 7 or 8 each night but I was not about to try a rigid schedule where she had to eat at certain times and sleep at certain times, that didn't seem logical to me. These tricks were helping but still not as much as we needed them to

After having days of lots of crying and little sleep (and no she isn't colicky) I begin to feel frustrated, confused, overwhelemed....and mad at myself for getting so worked up over this. Why couldn't I just relax and take it in stride? That was my nature pre-baby. I thought I should watch my diet, maybe I should force her to be on a schedule, maybe something is wrong physically with her and I was just missing it....I went on and on, read so many different things on the internet until finally I had over-exhausted myself mentally and emotionally and even laughed a little at how stressed out I had gotten, "this is ridiculous," I thought. I'm actually a little embarrased to share this because I really don't like to get so worked up and stressed out about things like this that are a natural part of life. What happened to my "mother's intution"?

I had read briefly about this parenting style called "baby wise" and how you should set up your child on an eat, play, sleep routine and at the moment our routine was eat, sleep, eat, sleep, cry, cry, cry...nothing routine about it. So Jon and I talked a little about it and though I haven't read the book and could possibly be sabotaging my own efforts I decided to give it a try at least it would create some kind of consistency. I figured it sounded easy enough even though I still have some questions. I started this past Wednesday and Hadley only took about 4 2o min naps, needless to say she was not liking falling asleep without eating. Thursday was about the same, but I did my best to stick with it, letting her do some crying before I'd go in and calm her down. Thursday seemed to go pretty well as far as she was crying herself to sleep fairly quickly but again not staying asleep for very long. I think after those two days she had exhausted herself because Friday I could hardly keep her awake!

Today has been a little rough, she still isn't sleeping real well during the day but I'm keeping to the routine, even if she only sleeps for 30 mins or plays for 15 min, we're sticking to the routine. I've also cut out a lot of dairy in my diet, which is super hard because I love milk!!! If things get better within this week I may try to start adding a little dairy back in to see how things go. Finally but certainly not least, I've been praying like crazy through this whole process just for some peace and confidence that something will help. I think God is teaching me to just calm down first of all, things will be fine no matter what routine we do but using a specific routine I think we'll be learning consistency early on because once we have to start in on the discipline we're going to need some consistency!! I can tell you already it's been easier to be consistent with my own child than it ever was with my students.

To sum things up, my stress level has decreased dramatically, I feel we have a goal we're working towards and I am seeing some positive results already. Praise God!! I love my little girl and am enjoying being a mom!

Month 1

Ok so I'm a proud mother of a one month old sweet little girl and life is definitely different, not what I expected at all.  I've always thought it strange when people said they could never stay home with their kids, they'd get too bored.  What life are they living?  No offense to any readers who feel that way but holy crap, I feel like I have so much to do and so little time!  I actually got to plant a few plants today and do two loads of laundry.  Although, the little girl was fighting sleep all day so I was a little tied up.  

I've been reading through some friend's blogs and have picked up on a few things that I'd like to tryout.  Drum roll please......... since being a teacher my love for children's literature (and reading in general) was reawakened.  So I decided while staying at home with our kids I'd like to try to get at least one kids book published.  I've read about a friend trying out this Christian Writer's Guild program that is pretty much like a college course for people wanting to get their writing published.  I've looked through their website and am extremely interested, however I'm going to hold off joining for a few reasons.  Reason 1, because Hadley is still so young she still kind of needs me....A LOT (I know she'll get more energy as she gets older but at least she'll be a little more independent and on more of a schedule.).  Reason 2, I'm still adjusting to having a kid.  Reason 3, I'd like to hear from my friend how the program is before I commit.

I'm also ready to get back on the goal train.  A year or two ago Jon and I wrote down some goals and for the most part did ok accomplishing them.  But we haven't looked at them in quite some time so I looked at them yesterday and felt motivated again to get back on track with them.  Hopefully I don't overwhelm Jon with my motivation since he's got a lot going on now.  Anyway, I'm excited to have some direction while at home.

Meanwhile, on the "mom" front.  Things are going well.  I hate to say anything in fear of jinxing (sp?) it but for the last 3 nights Hadley has been sleeping well, only waking up once or twice during the night.  I'm trying to be thankful for each night it happens while maintaining a realistic outlook that she could revert back to waking up every hour or two.  I ordered a breast pump and I think we're going to try a bottle within the next week or so.  It's so weird, I've been a lot more uptight with her than I thought I would be since I'm generally a very laid back person.  I chalk it up to the fact that she's so darn cute and I love her so much that I don't want to miss a minute.  I have to confess it has been a process for me to be able to leave her (just in a different room) with anyone but Jon.  It's hard to let her cry when someone else is holding her, not because I don't think they can't handle it but because I just feel so bad for her when she cries.  I've come a long way and am a lot better with most of this, but I'm nervous about leaving her with a babysitter.  Again, not because I don't think they can't handle it, but because I don't want to miss anything with her. :)    I guess it's all a process and as she gets older maybe it will get easier.  I'm sure with the second kid, I'll gladly be handing him/her over to whoever so I can get a break.  

The newest addition

Again, taking a brief hiatus from talking about the hobbies as I've got little time since our newest addition arrived. Hadley Ann was born Wednesday May 13th at 11:05am. Labor and delivery went perfect, I woke up at 5am to use the restroom and when I got back in bed it felt like I was still going to the bathroom so I rushed back in and realized my water had broken. Jon and I rushed to get everything packed into the car and took off to the hospital. We got there about 5:20 and as Jon parked the car I went in to get checked into a delivery room. By 6:30am contractions started and to get them to be more regular the nurse started me on a low dose of pitocin. That's when the real contractions kicked in and I immediately asked for the epidural. By 8am the epidural had been administered by Dr. Funk (yes that was his name) and was pretty much in effect. I could still feel a little on the left side but I used my button to administer more and it took complete effect. Wow talk about a weird sensation. I could feel my legs, etc. but they were super tingley and of course I couldn't feel any pain. I had lost just about all control of them as well.

My dr. showed up around 8:30 and by 9:45 I was pushing. I pushed for an hour which was quite a challenge to do when you can't feel anything but everyone in there (my husband, the nurse, and my dr.'s intern) kept telling me I was doing great. My dr. was called back in at 10:45 and I pushed a few more times and baby Hadley was there. They put her on my chest and of course I cried a little. I was in shock that she was ours and that she just came out of me. She weighed 7lbs. 4oz. and was 19.5 in. long. Thus beginning a new era in our lives.

The first few days were a whirlwind. I wasn't really in much pain at all, just cramping, although I did faint in the bathroom before I was moved into the couplet room. Luckily Jon was there to catch me. However, the breastfeeding was the biggest struggle. She didn't want to latch on right away and she also didn't want to wake up to eat either. We had to work pretty hard to even get her to open one eye. The pediatrician that came in the first day said he wasn't worried about her not eating right away, it was perfectly normal for her to be very sleepy the first few days. The nurses on the other hand were very adimant that if she hadn't eaten in the first 24 hours then she needed to be bottlefed. Our pediatrician said, "no, let's wait it out and keep trying." Which we were thankful for. The next day the lactation consultant came in and worked with us as had one of the nursery nurses that night and we were feeling a little better about it. By the evening of Thursday she was latching on and doing a little better, but not latching on correctly. Having read that if it hurts the baby is not latched on correctly I knew something wasn't right but I hated to take her off because we had worked so hard to get her on. Anyways, this mistake cost me for the next few days. I had super sore nipples and found it almost unbearable to nurse her whenever we hd the opportunity.

Much to our dismay we had to stay an extra day in the hospital since she still wasn't eating all that great. But by Friday around 2 we got discharged! Finally! Poor Jon was tired of sleeping on the hard pull out bed and we were both tired of being cooped up in the hospital room. Friday and Saturday proved to be two of the most challenging days for us as we tried to get her to eat. We had used a syringe with formula and our finger to "train her tongue" and get her going now this seemed to be the only method she would accept for eating. Saturday morning we had to take her for a weight check and she had lost 1lb which was too much. The pediatrician gave us until the following Monday to get her to eat better and gain some weight or we'd have to look at pumping and bottlefeeding.

My milk had come in Saturday so we were hoping this would make things better. While her appetite seemed to be getting better she still was not latching on. Saturday night I think Jon and I were wondering if this was going to work. I was becoming more comfortable with the idea of pumping just to save all three of us the frustration, but as the story goes she started latching on better and by Sunday night I think a huge weight was lifted off of us. We didn't have to use syringes anymore and I was able to bear any pain that came with the feeding because I knew we could fine tune stuff as long as she got the latching on. Monday morning brought another trip to the pediatrician for a weight check and she had gained 6oz! Which was a lot. Woohoo Hadley! Although in my head I wonder if the nurse didn't read the scale right but whatever, she had gained some weight and that's all that mattered.

The rest of the first week went better. We've had a lot of visitors, not much sleep and tons of food brought to us. We almost didn't have room for our precious gallons of milk. Just recently Hadley has started being really fussy from about 9pm-2am. She'll want to nurse about every hour and for only 5 or 10 minutes. As soon as we try to lay her down in her cradle she'll wake up wanting more. We haven't given her a pacifier yet (well we did for a few minutes and then decided against it) mainly because of all the breastfeeding issues we had. We didn't want to sabotage any of that until she was a pro at it. I certainly do welcome this change in schedule though as opposed to the not eating at all!

We went again this morning for another weight check (office policy is that if they're under 7lbs they keep a close eye on them). She was only 6lbs 12oz so still gaining weight but not as fast as before. We have her two week check up next Thursday so they'll check her again (obviously) and hopefully by then she's up to 7lbs. or past it.

Jon has been a great support through all of this and is already a wonderful dad! He's going to go back to work next week and while I'm a little nervous I'm also ready to get into a routine of being at home all the time with the baby. Hopefully soon little miss Hadley will get into a regular feeding schedule so we can start to plan things a little better.

We have certainly appreciated all the prayer, encouragement, and support from everybody! We look forward to watching our little girl grow into the person God wants her to become. We think she's the cutest baby we've ever seen and feel blessed that God gave her to us. I think that's the majority of the story, if I left something out or someone has a question let me know.

Little Hadley with mommy and daddy just an hour old.

Lounging at home on her first day

The happy family (can you tell we're losing sleep?)

Roses and Weeds

I've decided to do a hodge podge entry, focusing not just on my hobbies as there is more going on in life at the moment.

During the unbelievably annoying wind-storms a while back disaster struck my veggies.  The wind managed to move my greenhouse along the patio, therefore carrying the plastic shelving inside with it.  Resulting in my peat pots on the ground spilling their guts of soil and veggie seeds. Alas, maybe a veggie garden is not ready to be sown in the Hasbrouck household.

I also finally started my own nursing wrap.  As I started measuring and cutting I realized I couldn't remember what I had measured the last nursing wrap I made and Elaine seems to like the size.  So I continued on, just making it and I got to making the straps and totally messed up, I made one of them a little too short. I decided how ridiculous it was that I didn't write measurements down so I went ahead and did that with my nursing wrap and am almost finished.  This is a good thing seeing as how I could have this baby at any moment.

Which leads me to the part that's not about my hobbies.  I'm off of work, doctor's orders as I've progressed to 3 cm already and technically still have 4 weeks until my due date.  Of course I'm excited to be having a baby and not have to go to a job every morning.  However, I hadn't prepared myself to leave quite so quickly and it was harder than I thought leaving my students.  They were really sweet my last day though and the student I struggled with all year almost laughed at a joke I made and gave me a hug on the way out the door.  I realize he could have been more happy to have me leave, but I'll pretend that I did make a difference in his life and hopefully he won't forget what he learned (and not just the academics).

It's been a whirlwind the past few days, as I rushed to clean out my classroom and make sure things are in fact in order for the baby when she comes.  Now I guess Jon and I should go pack our bags for the hospital so we are, ourselves are ready.  HURRY UP HADLEY!!!

Gardening

The Cardinal that joined me out in the backyard. Perhaps he was looking to snack on the grubs I threw out.

So I've been able to do a little gardening (although the bending over gives me heartburn). I bought some peat pots to start some veggies in. I've got green onions, roma tomatoes, watermelon, and green beans. A strange mix but veggies I know we'll eat/use in cooking. So here's how much of a gardener I am, I just found out these peat pots are made to plant directly into the ground when your plants are ready. Amazing! Even though I don't know where we're going to plant them yet. I also received a Hydrangea bush from my grandma. She said it wasn't blooming at her house because it wasn't getting enough sun so she gave it to me to put in a sunny spot. Hopefully it does well because every other plant that has been planted in that spot has died from heat exhaustion. Things are moving slowly when it comes to gardening but things are moving.

I moved all of my potted plants out of the greenhouse and did some pruning. They're looking a little scraggly (sp?) but they'll be back in "full bloom" very shortly. I think this week I'll give them some miracle grow. Unfortunately all the limes I thought we were going to have died. I'm not sure if the tree got too hot in the greenhouse or what happened but all the little buds turned black and fuzzy and fell off. I'm hoping I can get a few blossoms out of it before it's too late.

The greenhouse my husband built for me for Christmas. It's now housing my little veggie pots.

The peat pot that can be planted right into the ground

Green Onions starting their journey nice and warm! I'm hoping to get some shelves to put in the green house so everything doesn't have to be on the ground.

The hydrangea plant from my grandma.

My bag of soil was full of yummy grubs! Happy eating to the birds!

It's finished

These are the straps pulled together.



This is one end of the strap with a button so it can be removed.




This is the long end of the strap that can be adjusted tighter as needed and also removed.

This is the entire finished product. Big enough to be used as a blanket without worrying about the straps getting in the way.

Well I did it! I finished the nursing wrap and I think it's going to work. Again, I just started with the basic blanket template that I've done before. I did make it a little larger so it would leave room to wrap around the sides. I sewed the straps together and was ready to attach the buttons. For some reason the option on my sewing machine to attach buttons wasn't working well. After many failed attempts and readings of the manual to make sure I was doing everything right, it worked. I'm not sure what it was that wasn't working, I have a theory that the bobbin thread was wound wrong and eventually, after my failed tries, was working the way it needed to.

One step I was unsure of and will only know the answer to after the wrap is used is how far apart to put the button holes. I put them just a bit wider than the width of my shoulders hoping the straps would cinch up the fabric to "wrap" around the shoulders. I've got a while to hear the reviews on it but am looking forward to making one for myself.

My Next Project

I've finally come up with my next project, my next new venture in the world of sewing. With some friends having babies and myself having a baby you'd think this would be easy but I was looking for a new challenge and I've found it.

There are these nursing wraps that are becoming very popular. It's essentially a blanket with a strap to put around your neck to prevent exposure while nursing. It's a great idea and I've seen one in use; the mother loved it. So I decided to try to make one.

I've made the plain ol' baby blankets before so that will be my starting template and then I plan to add two button holes on one side. These will be for removable tabs that will be on each end of the strap. The strap will be adjustable. So you end up with a nursing wrap or if you'd rather, you can unbutton the strap and use it as a blanket.

The last few times I've ventured out to do something new without any patterns or instructions, they were miserable failures so I'm a little nervous, however I know I can do the blanket part so if that's all that turns out right then it won't have been a failure. A strap shouldn't seem too hard since it's just a small strip of fabric but it's amazing how easy it is to screw up something simple and small.

Wish me luck!

Clearing out the weeds: Patience

Well since I am not really doing anything with my hobbies at the moment, I decided to write a little bit about some personal "gardening". 

Obviously having a baby and getting ready for her has been at the forefront of my thoughts these days.  However, while I've spent time in prayer for her and about her, I think my preparedness has been focused on the material things she'll need.  While those are necessities and important this has greatly affected my patience in the whole matter.

I've become very impatient to meet her, impatient to quit work, impatient to get "stuff" for the baby....etc, etc, etc.  So part of "clearing out the weeds" for me right now is learning to enjoy this time that God has given me and to hope that the baby takes all the time it needs to develop healthily (if that's even a word).  I also know that once she's born the years will go by fast and I'll wish that she was back to being the baby that I now sit and feel as she kicks her little legs.

My prayer is also that Jon and I spend this time preparing ourselves spiritually, mentally, and emotionally  to raise this child that God has entrusted to us.  It reminds me a lot of when we got married; spending so much time on planning for the wedding and about half as much time planning for our marriage together.  

I now have about 4.5 months until little Hadley arrives, I hope to make the most of it.