Bye bye Volleyball

Early evening on Wednesday (volleyball day), AO texted to say she wasn't feeling well and would not be at volleyball! Oh no! Our last night and we would be short a girl? The rule is there can't be more guys than girls, so I tried frantically to get a girl to play with us. My wonderful long-term sub (and new RT) said she'd do it! Yay! So, when we got to the courts, the worker ran up to us and said that we were in a tie to get into the championship game. Woohoo! We had to do well! The team we were playing was undefeated for the WHOLE SEASON. They were way, way, way too good for the B (just for fun) league. We're talking bump, set, spike every single return. All serves over. That kind of thing. We're fairly decent, but we're just out for fun and have all kinds of skill level, from beginner to JJ's level. ; ) We quickly lost the first two games and decided to play the third for fun. It started raining and everyone scattered pretty quickly when the worker ran over again telling us that the team we were tied with had lost too! Maybe there was still hope for our annual t-shirt. After mulling over some TCBY, the head guy called me the next morning to tell me there was actually a four-way tie for second place (and a spot in the championship game), but looking at our records against the other three teams, we ended up on the losing end of the tie. Boo! But yay to an awesome season! Fall league here we come!

Tidbits of Advice: Random, random

Just a few random post-preggo facts. I have always been a somewhat weird eater. For example, when I first met JJ I couldn't stand drinking water. Trust me, I got teased a ton, you don't have to point out how strange it is. I also didn't like chocolate. Call me crazy (quite a few people did), but I could totally pass up pretty much anything chocolate when it came to a treat. NOW, both of those things have flipped. The chocolate... not so much on the plus side of my healthy eating... but the water, at least that's a huge improvement. I crave water now. Mmmm... at times I do add some lemon flavoring, but even that is not necessary.

Random Bystanders

While on walks with MVJ, the most interesting things that happen are generally seeing a family of ducks or walking by someone we recognize. But, last night we were witnesses to a strange driving occurrence! We were walking down University when all of a sudden this big van (a painting van no less) does a wild u-turn across a median, and then goes back over the median again so that he is driving against traffic! Two cars, thank goodness they were paying attention, careen to the side to avoid him as he crazily heads back to his right side of the road, almost running into a car travelling on that side. It was insane! JJ and I just stopped and stared for the brief time it took for the whole scene to play out. For some reason I thought the guy's brakes must have gone out, but that was certainly not the case. JJ said the guy was lighting a cigarette as he did the u-turn and just lost control. In any case, it was weird to say the least!

Note to self

Don't wear a shirt you enjoy after your husband has decided it's time to feed your baby carrots for the first time... yeah...

I got home from work yesterday and JJ had decided he wanted to feed MVJ carrots. This is her VERY FIRST food (besides boobie juice and cereal). She spit it up a little bit a short time after her feeding. Fine, no big deal, we expected it. About an hour later (at Green Mill), she spit up MORE orange goo. Eewww! We weren't ready for that! About an hour and a half after Green Mill, she spit up MORE (while I was at Bible Study with her). I think we can safely call that stuff throw up -- it had been in her tummy for quite a while! Oh, and she even got it in my pocket! What aim! : )

Tidbits of Advice: Feeding Cereal

We have been feeding MVJ cereal for quite some time now. We started with just a little introduction randomly, but have moved it right into her nightly bedtime ritual. At about 8pm, I plop her in her bumbo on the kitchen table (she stays there during her meal--we haven't gotten the highchair out yet). She loves being my little sous chef. I started out making it quite soupy, but now have been able to make it a bit thicker. I also started out mixing it with pumped breastmilk. Yeah, way too much work for a nightly deal. So I've been using distilled water instead. I warm it up slightly -- she's not a fan of "cold" yet. Then I get the bib out -- my upstairs neighbor (BB) said that cloth seem to better for the "wetter" cereal stage. She has fun baby spoons -- sometimes I let her "choose" the color. She is pretty much a champ. She loves her some cereal and generally eats everything I have made. Sometimes she'll refuse the spoon, turn away, try to grab it and throw it, etc. to let me know that she is DONE. She loves being cleaned up for some reason. She'll grab the little towel and sometimes try to eat it! She usually wants to follow up with some milkies, which is fine by me (fill 'er up so she sleeps longer is my motto!).

Prayer

At Bible Study last Tuesday, we were talking about the discipline of prayer. It was a very thought-provoking study and I thought our leaders did an awesome job of humbly talking about their own goals and sometimes shortcomings when dealing with prayer. Here are some of the key points we talked about. Do you have any hints or insights to add for developing a meaningful prayer life?

*There are two kinds of prayer: the scheduled, daily "stuff" --- like prayer before meals, maybe a devotion before bedtime that you do every night, etc. and the ongoing, sporadic prayer --- we should be in constant communication with God and live our lives in such a way that it is a prayer uplifted to God. For this type, I always remember part of a sermon by Pastor P, who compared this type of prayer to being married (of course, this example is, or should be, to a much different degree) --- you are married to your spouse, but you are not with your spouse 24/7, but you should live in such a way that is honoring to your spouse, maybe show outward signs that you are married, and talk about your spouse and let others meet your spouse, etc, etc.

*Some reasons why people don't pray as much as they should, or would like to: some people believe prayers aren't answered or that God will do what He wants anyways so why bother, some people get into the busyness of life and forgot to ask God/praise God/tell God about it, people feel inexperienced or don't feel they know how to pray effectively, etc.

*There are tons of places in the Bible that focus on prayer (we looked at a few of them) -- Jesus prayed all the time, the disciples tell others that prayer is uberimportant and people in the OT knew to lift up their prayers to God. One spot (now I can't remember which verses...) basically said that God would've healed this person sooner but there was no one interceding on his behalf. So, he still healed the person (as per His plan), but it would've been quicker had people been praying for this person.


I know JJ and I always plan to do specific devotionals and lots of times they fall by the wayside after a few days or weeks. Then it gets frustrating. JJ often likes to pray by himself and I prefer to pray outloud together. It's definitely a balancing act of finding ways that work but making sure to give God the time He deserves. At one time I was very faithful about listening to a Bible podcast. It was awesome - this guy shared a bit about the passage (one or two chapters from the OT, one psalm, a few verses of Proverbs and a half of a chapter to a whole chapter from the NT) and then read it. It was interesting and got me digging into my Bible. But, after a few months it became something on my "to-do list" and that made me get frustrated at myself, thus negating what I had set out to do in the first place. I think if I would've concentrated my prayers on asking God to bless this time it would've been more fruitful.

Anyways, just some random thoughts about prayer.

So I tried to go to Harry Potter yesterday. . .

Yesterday our friends RE and JE from Thief River Falls decided to come hang out and go to a matinee of Harry Potter, which I've been waiting to see! We found a babysitter, friend SM from work, and got it all planned. We thought there was a 2:00 showing, but it turned out it was either 1:45 or 2:15. I sent RE and JE to see if the 1:45 was open, but it was full. So we settled on the 2:15 and I headed out the door, while li'l miss MVJ slept and after SM had gotten the run-down on toys, bottles, teething tablets, etc! Right after the first preview (for the second installment of Twilight), I got a text from SM basically saying, "MVJ woke up screaming at about 1:50, I've tried everything and she won't calm down. Any ideas?" Oh dear! Not what you want to hear! I quickly exited stage left and called her to get the skinny. I hear MVJ wailing in the background and SM has tried everything I would've tried. I text JJ that I'm heading home, and the theater people were nice enough to refund my ticket (yay!).

At home, MVJ will just not calm down. She has worked herself up to hysterics and has basically done everything to SM in her arsenol: pulled her hair, spit up on her and spit out a chalky teething tablet onto her shoulder. What a little stinker!!! On the way home I was pondering what to pay SM. We had bought a gift card to the movie theater, but at first it seemed like a bit much for about an hour at our house... but... upon further thought, I realized she ABSOLUTELY deserved every single penny, and more!!! Poor SM! I feel so bad that MVJ was such a brat! And poor MVJ I suppose. Maybe leaving while she was sleeping was a bad idea since she didn't have a chance to warm up to her.

So, the conclusion? MVJ yelled at me for about 10 more minutes, then nursed and fell into a deep sleep. When she woke up she was just about the happiest baby ever. Little stinker!

Spacing Kiddos

We have this perfect little addition to our family, but we definitely don't want her to be an only child, God-willing of course. So, obviously the next question is when. If we look to our families, there are about three year gaps between ourselves and next closest siblings. (I know, I would think in a family of nine they'd be closer together too, but only the first four were close.) We enjoyed our childhoods and our bonds with our siblings. Of course our childhoods were quite different with different family dynamics -- JJ the youngest, me the oldest, JJ with a stay-at-home mom, me with a workin' woman, JJ being an uncle at age three months, me with being even the oldest grandchild on my Dad's side, not to mention any of the other stuff like location, finances, religious denominations, etc!!

Anyways, I read an article... now I wish I could find it... it was in one of the many, many free magazines I got when I signed up for EVERY offer when I was pregnant... anyways, it's on spacing of children and the pros and cons of having children two years or less apart, three years apart or four years and more apart.

Basically, what I took away from the article is having kids two years apart or less means you'll go absolutely nuts for a couple of years and then you have kids that are old enough to do stuff earlier (like take a fam. vacation or all be in school, etc.), generally they'll be close and involved in eachother's lives, but then they'll all most likely be in college at the same time (if you're planning on supporting your children in college).

Then, having kiddos four year or more apart means you'll have kids in diapers for-ev-er, kids who aren't as interested in hanging out with their siblings, major changes with a kiddo who's used to being the only child, but you might have a kiddo who can be a good helper for a new baby, and you have lots of time to enjoy your first child before having a second.

And, having a kiddos spaced right around three years gives you a little bit of both worlds.

Of course what works best, spacing-wise, for one child's personality won't be best for the next one. So how do you know?

I guess we're leaning towards three year spacing, but of course, we don't even know where we'll be in the 2-ish years we have to decide we're ready for numba two.

Tidbits of Advice: Must Have #3 (A yoga ball!)

Hopefully you've caught on that my must haves are things you may not traditionally associate with must haves for babies. We happened upon this must have when I had decided to drag out my yoga ball to start to get back into shape a few months ago. I was a little bit more ... eager ... back then. Now my back into shape plan consists of breastfeeding (seriously, it's the best plan evah!) and taking long walks. Everything in between consists of eating everything in sight. Whoops! Back to the yoga ball! I found that if I hold MVJ while bouncing on the ball, she enjoys it, calms quickly and can even sometimes get out stubborn burps. Lately, only Daddy is able to put her down to sleep - when Mommy holds her/rocks her at night she just wants to be fed! Naughty girl! So, the yoga baller has generally been Daddy lately.

A few quotes about MVJ

Whenever anyone sees MVJ generally the first remark is: "Oh my! Look at that hair!" It really is her distinguishing feature.

I love this quote from KC, "She won't have to use mascara a day in her life!"

Oh, and this one from niecey (MVJ's cousin) LJ, "She's the biggest I've ever seen her!" Yup, I agree LJ! Every single day this is true! Especially going through all these pictures, I'm feeling rather reminiscent lately.

And I love how accurate this quote is by SIL (MVJ's auntie/godmother) LJ, "I love how the world is always such a surprise to you!" (MVJ has a wide-eyed surprised look frequently!)

Just some layout ideas . . .

Ugh, I am way overthinking this... I know... Today I got all of my scrapbooking stuff out and it is now littering the floor/couch/coffee table in our small apartment. Thank goodness JJ works tomorrow! I planned on getting quite a bit done with Baby Girl napped, but no. Again, I just had to get some things down on paper (cheap, scrap paper rather than the more expensive CM paper!) before I could get started. And again I found tons of stuff that I just wanted to sit and look at. The bands from my wrist, JJ's wrist, MVJ's wrist/foot from the hospital. The ultrasound pics. The professional pics. The "yay you're pregnant", baby shower, "yay you gave birth", and Baptism cards. I did manage to jot down the ideas I have so far for pages and get them in order. Here they are so far. Feel free to give me feedback!!

Title Page
Ultrasound
Preggo pics/Baby Shower
Hospital Pics/Hospital Stuff/Your Name
Professional Pics/Announcement
Nicknames
With Mommy
With Daddy
With K's (4 Generations)
With J's
Baptism
Hands/Feet
Firsts
A Day in the Life
Bathtime
Sleepytime
Tummy time
Bumbo chair/swing
Faces
Food
South Babies
Friends
Fashionista
Month by Month

And that should take me through my first paper pack! Eeks! I'm planning on doing the "Firsts" and on after her 6th month so I actually have about half-way through the first year represented!! We have 6th month photographs scheduled with: her. Hopefully everything goes well and Chi-chi smiles big!

Walmart Outing

Today I just had to get a few groceries and other items so I ran to Walmart because I was close by. While there I decided to pick up the photo CDs I had ordered a few days ago. This was the second time I ordered them because the first order didn't go through for some reason. Today I stopped by the photo counter and after much searching, the guy was like, "I see your order and see that it is done, but I can't find them." I was like, (to myself), "Oh boy here we go again. . . " Then I actually said, "Ok, well I have to go get charcoal and lighter fluid, so I'll just be back in a few minutes." After walking to the other side of the store, (and walking by the school supplies -- NO! Not school supplies! School can't be starting soon!! But yes! Yes! New markers!) I found the charcoal and headed back. The guy was like, "Nope. Can't find them. You'll have to order them again." Boo! I have had so much trouble with Sam's Club and Walmart for photos, but they are so the cheapest and most convenient (MOST of the time). So, I'll have to put in order number three. Boo, hiss boo. Does anyone have suggestions for where to get photos printed??!

Also, I completed a few more pages in our family scrapbook -- including the birth of li'l miss MVJ, but I canNOT get myself to start her album! I was just about to get all my stuff out (it's still in our kitchen from unpacking from our mini-trip to AJ and LJ's), but JJ started complaining about how much room my scrapbooking stuff takes up when I lay it out in our living room. I know, I know. I need a day long retreat or something. I just need to dive in, and it'll be great!

A cricut project

I finally did it! I broke out my vinyl! I finished a cricut project! For my birthday, my brother bought me the 12x24 cutting mats and today I bought transfer paper, so I was ready to go. I have a "Home Accents" solutions cartridge, so this image was easy to make, but it was still nerve-wracking because I had never used the vinyl or transfer tape. With JJ's help, I think it turned out pretty well!



There, see, it's just a cute little saying...

MVJ Update

Oh my goodness gracious! MVJ is 21 weeks old today! She will be 5 months officially on Thursday! She's getting to be such a big girl and we are loving learning more about her every day! Here is an update on things she does/likes/doesn't like:

*Yesterday we found what it appears M has been searching for for a while ------> A TOOTH! MVJ has a little guy poking through her bottom gum. Finally some proof that she was teething (AJ!).

*MVJ is a rollin' fool, but still only tummy to back. When we put her on her back, sometimes she twists and cocks her head back, but no turning yet. When she turns from her tummy to her back, she sometimes gets scared and sometimes upset, but always surprised!

*MVJ has had two successful cereal feedings. We got new spoons and they seem to be working well. They're also longer, so they're supposed to be good for getting all the food out of baby food jars. We're planning on making our baby food, so I'm not sure how helpful that will be! Anyways, she likes to chop down and we can maybe even start her highchair soon -- she loves to sit up like a big girl.

*MVJ continues to love: her bumbo, bear and pig with skinny arms that she can easily grab, swing, being held, nursing, nursing laying down and falling asleep (stinker!), the camera, sleep, sleeping in her stroller, sleeping in her carseat, sleeping on the couch, sleeping in her crib (you get the picture)

*MVJ seems to be getting on a schedule. She'll go to bed right around 9 pm, sleep until around 4-4:30ish, sleep again until 7:30ish, watch the Today Show with Mommy, sleep again at around 10am, hang out until around 1 pm, when she takes her afternoon nap -- which can last up to 3 hours!!, then, depending on the afternoon nap, sometimes she'll take another brief snooze at around 6:30/7:00, then back to sleep for the night. YAY for schedules!!

*MVJ loves to chat -- and she loves to chat on the phone! : ) She'll just ooh and ahh, and purse her lips. It's so cute!

*MVJ also seems to have consolidated her bathroom breaks. AND, (knock on wood), she doesn't seem to be up for the game of peeing/pooping on Mommy or Daddy lately. Yes!

*MVJ likes other people -- but mostly from the comfort and safety of Mommy or Daddy's arms. She will flirt and chat with other kiddos and adults, as long as they are not too close, and as long as they don't try to hold her! Stinker!

*A few firsts in the last few weeks: going to a zoo, getting her toenails painted, attending weddings (and receptions), meeting tons of relatives, and of course her tooth!

Ssssso Sssssslimy

We went to the Dakota Zoo last weekend with my brother WJK and his girlfriend, SH. We had a blast and it was great to spend some time with them. For her very first visit to any zoo, MVJ slept the whole time! Our first stop was the reptile area, and I just cannot shake the willies I get from thinking about snakes. I canNOT stand snakes. I know it is a girly girl thing, but I am totally that girl who jumps on the nearest thing off the ground (i.e. a picnic table, chair, JJ...) when I see a snake slithering through the grass. Ewwww... just thinking about it gives me the creepy crawlies. So, while we were walking about, SH tells this story, that I cannot get out of my head. Her friend had a pet python, who she used to sleep with. OK. Hold the phone. She a) has a pet python and b) she SLEEPS with it?!? We could not be friends. Moving on, she says that the python started acting strange and at night it would streeeetch out and then relax back down, streeeetch out, and then relax back down several times a night. Finally her friend called the vet who said to get rid of the snake immediately. It was checking to see if it was big enough to EAT HER. CREEEEEEPY.

Whah Waa (the Debbie Downer sound)

We lost our first volleyball match last night. Boo! It's actually our first loss at all in the new bracket (ahem... the gold one...). AND we lost to a team that has not won a single game let alone whole match in the new bracket. BOOOOOOO. I played the first game and we lost by just a little bit. It's rally scoring, and it was 26-29. We had a side-out and they won. I hate losing on those terms. The second game I was sidelined with Chi-chi and we won. No drawing correlations allowed! The third game I hardly saw at all because my little darling became STARVING and I was in the van feeding my ravenous beast. JJ said they got on a roll and won by a landslide. Boo. We came home at about 9pm to watch Top Chef Masters only to find out it was on at 8 and re-aired at 10. I put Cheechers to bed, drank a delicious banana smoothie made by JJ, and decided I was going to stay up and watch the 10 showing (can you tell we are one of the poor saps sans TiVo?). I was asleep by 10:30 and JJ woke me up to turn off the TV some time after 11. : )