Daily reading

I have a daily devotional emailed to me at my work email. Today's was a good reminder to me to continue to read the Word daily. I have always struggled with finding the right 'devotional'. Whether it's a book of insightful daily blurbs, or a thorough study guide, I have never really found one that was wonderful or that kept me interested consistently. I finally just decided to keep it simple and only read from the Bible. Sometimes it's a chapter, sometimes more. But I am slowly just reading through one book at a time. I'm in the New Testament and I started in Galatians. I am now in 1 Timothy. I have also made it my prayer to have a desire and passion for the Word. This alone is important, because it's hard to make yourself passionate about it. I believe God is showing me so many things through His word lately and I can say for once I feel like I'm retaining more than I ever have. I almost don't want to say that because I know Satan hates to know we are learning and growing in God's precious Word.
But today I didn't take the time to read and I read over my daily devotional and was again reminded how important it is to slow down and make time.
Here is a portion from it:

George Müeller is someone most all Christians have heard about. The stories of his faith and prayer have taught many the importance of believing God’s ability to provide. Yet few note his diligence in studying God’s Word. He wasn’t simply a man who prayed and saw God’s blessings, but a man who spent time with God and developed a close relationship with God through studying His Word. Müeller had the following to say about his time studying the Bible:


“I look upon it as a lost day when I have not had a good time over the Word of God. Friends often say, ‘I have so much to do, so many people to see, I cannot find time for Scripture study.’ Perhaps there are not many who have more to do than I. For more than half a century I have never known one day when I had not more business than I could get through. For 4 years I have had annually about 30,000 letters, and most of these have passed through my own hands. Then, as pastor of a church with 1,200 believers, great has been my care. Besides, I have had charge of five immense orphanages; also, at my publishing depot, the printing and circulating of millions of tracts, books, and Bibles; but I have always made it a rule never to begin work until I have had a good season with God and His Word. The blessing I have received has been wonderful.”

yard sale'in

So we woke up pretty early yesterday morning, thank you Oliver.
It is the norm for us now...gone are the days of sleeping in. Well at least really sleeping in, for us sleeping past 7 is a treat! But it was a beautiful fall morning and we took advantage of it by heading out to some community yard sales. It was so much fun walking around in the beautiful fall weather. Finally a relief from the horrible heat here.
We found some great deals too and took home some games, toys, and clothes for our boy. It's always so much fun to find high quality things for next to nothing. 'New' clothes for Oliver at $1 a piece is hard to beat. Name brand even, like baby Gap which I adore.
We also found the tiniest little tie for him. We actually got this thrown into another purchase for free. So this morning I got to dress him up with it on for church.
It was too darn cute! I dressed him and sat him in the glider while we ate breakfast and Jonah nudged me to look over at our son, and there he was holding the tie in his hand. I guess he somehow pulled it off and accidentally got it tucked in his little hand, and was smiling over there to beat all.
So it was kind of a little bit of work to keep it on, but worth the cuteness! I love my men so much, they are so handsome, and so wonderful. God has been good to give them to me, and I'm so very grateful.

3 months and growing

love his chunky cheeks!

Almost at the four month mark, but here is where our Oliver is today.
Sleeping 8+ hours a night. He started this a couple weeks ago once we transitioned him to his own crib (from bassinet). Sitting up with our hand supporting him. LOVES to stand on our laps or anywhere we help him stand. Eating every 3.5-4 hours. Almost laughing...we are waiting to see if he'll start this soon. He grins and kind of makes a coo right now. Talking more and more. Growing like a weed. He's over 15 lbs. now and keeps on growing. He's long too, with big feet!
We met up with our group of families from our Bradley birthing class the other night. It was so much fun to see everyones babies. The last time we saw each other we were all pregnant. Oliver is the only boy in the group of 4 other girls. So he's quite the stud :) He is also the youngest of the group but he certainly isn't dwarfed in size. His feet are bigger than one of the 5 month old girls! What a chunk, I love it!
Here he is now, such a sweetheart. We are having soo much fun with our boy.

loves his sock monkey!

Goodness

Goodness is,

Listening to my dear husband and son take a catnap together,

Cooking dinner with fresh from the garden ingredients,

Enjoying the fulness of a fridge filled with -from-the-farm-yesterday- fruits and veggies,

Watching my son grin with his toothless, gummy, heart shaped mouth,

Quiet mornings reading from the Word and having an old verse feel brand new to you,

Finding out organic baby food is on sale for B1G1 and I have coupons,

Finishing up the evening with dinner done, bellies full and baby bathed, aaaah, contentment,

Yes it's the little things that fill the soul with happy goodness, like warm creamy tapioca pudding.

Think I'll do this more often.

3 month milestone, and future food plans

Guess who is sleeping through the night? All of us! Oliver has been on a roll, the past couple nights. We finally made the transition from bassinet to crib and it's been rough not having him near us, but it's good for all of us for him to get more sleep- which means we get more sleep.
I was beginning to think I'd have to always get in that 2 or 3a.m. feeding! He is past 3 months old now so it's time, I'd say.
We had a busy weekend, filled with grocery shopping and painting. We finally painted our downstairs bathroom that was dying to have paint on it's walls. The walls were stripped down, because some hideous wallpaper was on them, so it looks nice and fresh now. I didn't realize how much work it was to paint such a small room, but I'm glad it's done. We also spent a good chunk of our time getting groceries.
Now if you have read any of my blog you know I'm a couponer. I have recently gotten into even more, so I spent a good portion of time, organizing and planning out what sales were where and what coupons I have. It's really a strategy, but in the end so worth it if you make time for it. We ended up getting a good deal at CVS- using my CVS card to earn Extra Care Bucks. (did you even know about these??) We spent around $36, but received $15 ECB, which equals cash at CVS. We also bought some stuff for great prices- a huge package of Pampers for only $17 + a coupon for $1 off , 2 packs of wipes (72 count) for $5, and I also had a Revlon coupon and applied that to a sale they had on makeup.
Our grocery stores here are Publix and Kroger, and we went to both- Publix for some B1G1 sales, and Kroger for some great meat sales. It's so exciting to stretch your dollars and pay for your necessities for a low price. It's like your beating the system somehow.
Another new thing we are going to try this week is something called Farmers Market Baskets. They are fresh produce baskets literally delivered from local farms and are filled with the seasons fresh fruits and veggies. You can order them and pick up either organic or traditional baskets and they seem to be a good price. The only thing about them is that it's all seasonal stuff so you may get a bunch of new things you don't normally buy. But I think it will be good for us to make us try new things. Good for our bodies too to have different vitamins given to us! So that is Thursday, I'm excited to see whats in our basket!
My ultimate goal is to start weaning out processed, and sugary foods. Especially once Oliver starts eating foods, I'm planning on making my own food for him-yikes, I know- but I've seen it done through a friend and if I can just make some time to cook batches and freeze it, I know it will be worth it. But thats not for a little while still. I'm excited about it though.  If anyone out there has any good tips about making babyfood, I'd love to hear from you!
On another note, we are taking Olivers 3 month photos this week, and I'm excited about it. I'll have to post some when we get them done!
He has been growing leaps and bounds and the last time we weighed him he was around 15 lbs., what  a chunker. We love to kiss his rolly legs and buddah belly, and squeeze his chunky little cheeks. He has also started to kick so hard now. We lay him down on his playmat and his whole body goes at it, almost like he's swimming! He just started kicking harder at bathtime too, and I get soaked after his bath! I love it, it makes me laugh! He is doing much better in his bumbo now too, especially since I put his tray on it, so he can see whatever toy I put in front of him. He has been grabbing onto things and likes one toy in particular that is a big horse with a little rider on it that makes lots of crinkly noises when he touches it. It goes right to the mouth as everything does these days.
He's been drooling more and more and I'm thinking bibs may need to be broken out soon. I'm so excited to feel a chill in the air here lately, and I'm holding my breath hoping fall weather will arrive. I LOVE fall!!  And this year is so exciting having Oliver here to share it with. We have so much we want to show him too, like pumpkins and orchards, leaves and all the fun seasonal things yet to come. It's going to be a very special time for us. Oliver has also grown out of newborn stuff, and a lot of his 0-3 month stuff. He's in the 3-6 month range now, and I'm trying to see what fall stuff we have for him. He's been growing so fast, it won't surprise me if he can start fitting into some of his bigger stuff in the back of the closet (the 6-9 month). I have a box in his room that I am starting to fill with things he no longer fits, sigh. I'm thrilled to see him grow, but it's kinda sad to put his teeny tiny things away!
Well, I better end there, work is calling me. Have a wonderful Monday.

Thrush, the dreaded stuff

Okay so it's been a while since I've been here. Life has been busy, and thats my excuse. We have been out to visit family, had a friend stay overnight, shot some newborn photo-shoots, watched our sweet little turn 3 months, joined up a small group Bible study on Wednesday nights, and all the other ordinary in between stuff that makes life tick.
I am just coming off of a sugar/bread fast that I was on for the last week. Sweet Oliver had thrush for the past month and in an effort to thwart off the nasty stuff I put myself on a no sugar no yeast diet, and I added organic live cultured plain greek yogurt to my daily diet. First off, sugar is in everything it seems...yeast is in almost as much, and the yogurt kind of makes me gag a little.  I never realized how much I was craving or eating the processed white sweetness. I still stuck to fruits for natural sugar, but I swear I've never been faced with so many tempting goodies. I had just finished baking apple danish (right next to the brownies) when I started my fast. So I looked at them longingly for the past week....not to mention the Ben and Jerry's we have stashed in the freezer, which I haven't touched yet. It took some willpower to say no! And this included fudgy frosted cake and homeade icecream over Labor Day weekend.
But I did it, and tonight I ate a piece of apple danish.
However it has taught me a lot, like how much sugar I actually eat in a day, and how I really need to cut back, and hopefully replace with more natural sweeteners, like honey. It's amazing how yeast in your body can produce so many bad things, starting with your gut, bowels, etc.
I have been able to tell a difference in my overall moods being even (no highs or lows from sugar rush), my stomach has never felt better, including my bowels (tmi?), this in part from lack of processed sugar, and the live cultures in the yogurt. Amazing stuff.
I think I'll have to do this more often, and start cutting down sweets regularly. Funny thing is that once you get past the hump of craving sweets (you do desperately in the beginning because of the yeast in your body wanting it, yeast feeds on sugar) you kind of mellow out and get used to eating healthier foods and fruits. Willpower. Thats all I can say.
And Oliver is doing great, and I don't see signs of thrush now. He's still finishing up his medicine but I'm happy to no longer see it in his mouth.

Meanwhile, we have had the privilege of doing two newborn shoots recently. Here are some shots from them:

sweet little Ella

pretty little girl, only 5 lbs.

tiny little doll

johnny was a big boy at almost 10 lbs.

Johnny