North Carolina 'vacation'!!!

Last week/weekend we traveled to North Carolina for our friend, Brandon Brown's wedding. Joel was honored to stand up with him along with several of our friends. This meant a big roadtrip with friends and 3 nights in a hotel with friends! Kind of like college minus the community bathroom and ability to stay up late - plus the addition of tiny babies and responsibility :) seriously - aren't those toes the cutest?!?! And who smiles for the camera on command?! MY BABY GIRL!!!Little Miss was absolutely adorable most of the weekend and most of the ride to and fro. She has a new love for books - especially this one called God's Creation - it was easy to turn pages for 9 month old chubby fingers!
We all struggled with sickness over the weekend :( but were happy to all be together for comfort!

my bad...

i am notorious for leaving the burner on :( usually its just a pot of tea (cut to a picture of my completely burnt tea pot - once a sweet smooth green, now a splotchy brown and black with a hint of green...) this week, however, i took this to new levels not only did a burn an entire pot of carrots i was making to freeze for Mylin, but this evening i burnt 4 cups worth of brown rice - also in the making for little miss the worst part about burning stuff on my gas stove? the cleanup! we'll see if i even clean it up in the next month - i know, gross right?! welp, i'm lazy.

Homemade infant cough syrup

Little Miss just got over her first cold :(
When talking to the nurse over the phone about it she gave us several helpful tips including homemade infant cough syrup:

2 Tbp Karo Syrup
1 tsp. lemon juice

Mix together with a fork. Give infant 1 tsp. cough syrup every 4 hours. Cough syrup can stay on the counter (doesn't need to be refridgerated) but must make a new batch every 24 hours.

She also told us that at this stage and age her eyes 'run' (are seepy) because her nasal congestion can drain through her nose and her eyes. Interesting. And mildly disgusting...

p.s. Mylin is 9 months old today!!!! We are celebrating by 'vacationing' in North Carolina celebrating our friend Brandon Brown's wedding - yay for a long weekend and fellowship with old friends! (pictures to come soon...)

BIG little girl...

She's so big she is constantly pulling herself up!
This is how we are greeted in the mornings or after naps :)
What a sweetie!

Though we don't have a picture of it yet...when she pulls herself up on the couch she uses her tiny little teeth...stinker!

Oopsies...

When Mylin was going to bed the other night I leaned her down to smooch daddy before taking her upstairs. He opened his mouth to kiss her and she opened her mouth to spit up inside his :)
Below is the proof.
:)

St. Patrick's sweetheart

'first' babysitter

On a Saturday night last month Mylin had her first babysitter (that wasn't family or the Towne's who we date trade with)
This was a young lady from our church that we have come to know their family and Joel has been in Bible study with her dad

I don't know if you have had an 8 month old before or if they all do this (which I think for the most part they do...) but Mylin has some dramatic separation anxiety when we leave her with someone that is not us!
She actually has it when anyone is holding her that isn't Joel or I when we are in the room...
This even happens to our mom's who each keep Mylin 1-2 days a week!

Well I was gone with my classmates at some much needed 'group therapy' in FW and Joel and I were going to meet up in Berne for a birthday party
Joel picked Emma up and brought her back here to show her the ropes (I love organizing and man was there a ton of stuff to organize in preparation for this! Don't worry, I forgot to add our pediatrician's name and phone # to the emergency contact list - which I had already laminated...grr...)
Joel put Mylin in her high chair while Emma fed her dinner and Joel ate his own, then Emma carried her all around the house while Joel showed her everything that she might possibly need (even the fire extinguishers - seriously, are we the only ones like this?!)
Then he said his goodbye and was off to meet up with me!
NO TEARS FROM MYLIN
um...what?!
Yep, its a babysitting miracle - we are definitely keeping Emma around!
Oh yeah, and Emma even texted us an hour later and told us not to rush home, she doing fine, Mylin was fast asleep for the night and she wanted us to 'have fun' - I love her.

march media update

i know its only been a few days but this how my media fast has been going...

joel has been in mexico since sunday :(
and i am super lonely at home, especially in the evenings after Mylin hits the hay...so what have i been doing to keep myself busy?
watching t.v. - a lot of t.v
this is mostly disappointing, but also funny and ironic, right?! (not just really sad, right?)

february fast food fast update/march media fast explanation

Remember our February fast food fast?!
Well here's how it went:
We had 2 dates where we ate out, Red Lobster Valentine's Day, and local TW Fable (farm to table, seasonal menu: EXCELLENT!)
We had one surprise Tyeger's Valentines pizza
Joel ate out at Hardee's with a co-worker who was transferring jobs and at the Oyster Bar to celebrate a new co-worker joining the team
I get together with my classmates monthly to eat out and for some 'group therapy'
And I think that's it...

So it seems like a lot, but some things were so random and not worth avoiding for our 'fast' because of the relational value
However, at the end of the month I really have no desire to eat fast food at all (excluding pizza - I could eat pizza every day.)

So this month?
Another alliteration fast: No Media March
This will be a little bit silly too because of March Madness beginning and Joel loving it :)
Basically, we will not watch any t.v. in the evenings while Mylin is awake
Joel and I will watch only movies together, if time permits
When we are alone (the other is busy at church or out of the house) we can watch our own stuff (Joel - 30 Rock or Chuck, me - intervention on Netflix online) if the housework is done for the day...
I am also going to attempt to stop watching Oprah on my days home (gulp!)

We still need to iron out the March Madness parameters, but Joel is so amazing and family oriented that I know we'll be able to decide appropriate boundaries for our family and allowing him to have this one time a year fun!

What have you recently challenged yourself or your family with?

Guest blogger: Brittany Towne

This post is from one of my dearest friends, Brittany.
We were married 11 months apart, live 1 block apart, and our daughters are 4 days apart :)
Life with the Towne's by our side is always encouraging, funny, and a blessing to have a mirrored family with our own.
She was kind enough to share a sweet story about being a Godly mom and what exactly that means...

Patience is a Virtue

Patience.....the word alone evokes a shutter from deep within. To say the least it is not my strongest character trait. I am always quick to respond, lash out, growl (yes, growl), retaliate, or just get annoyed when something or someone takes too long. (Like the boy at Wal-Mart who paid for a deck of cards with all PENNIES!! ) I have tried counting to 10, taking a deep breath, clenching my fists, and numerous other little "tricks". All to no avail. I still growl at the computer, snap back at family, and seethe with annoyance every time I have to wait in line.

The past few weeks my reading has repeatedly taken me back to the Fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, forbearance (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23. Each time patience resonated deep within my gut. As a mother, I cannot afford to be impatient. I cannot growl at my daughter when she takes too long to eat her peas. I cannot stomp my feet with annoyance at the inevitability of long lines. Nor can I snap at my husband for being a millisecond behind schedule. I have little eyes watching every move. It would be unreasonable for me to expect my daughter to have any semblance of patience if the action is so foreign.

It is with the consideration of my daughter that patience becomes imperative. I must learn that each pea thrown on the ground represents the opportunity to practice. With every long line, I am learning discipline. And with each deep breath, God will give me restraint. My daughter will learn many things from me as she journeys through life, I pray patience is one of them.