A God Wink

I follow an incredible blog written by a young woman named Katherine Wolf who is an absolute inspiration (you can - and SHOULD - check out her unbelievable story here), and she often writes about "God winks."  This is what she said on her Sept. 18th blog post entitled "God Winks":

"Romans 8:28 has been one of our mantras for a long time now, and yet, the beautiful mystery of God’s control amidst the chaos of free will can be confounding.  The admonition to simply trust that “He’s working it all out” can come off as an unfulfilling platitude, at times.  Yet as a believer in an all-loving and all-powerful God, sometimes we as humans need to give God a little credit for being God and doing things that we can’t fully wrap our minds around (Psalms 131 — “I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me“).  Even more, we need to refocus our attention to those glimpses of God moving in our everyday moments, “God winks”, we call them.  Retraining ourselves to reflect back on the all the small streams that have eventually come together to form the larger river gives much-needed encouragement to face the present with confident gratitude."

God winks: those moments where you feel like you have a brief moment of clarity and assurance that God is, indeed, at work - even in the tiniest of details.

I experienced a God wink tonight that I could easily forget...but I don't want to.  Tonight was National Night Out, which, as the name suggests, is a nation-wide event that encourages people to get out of their houses to meet their neighbors.  Since I am a committee head - Yard of the Month, baby! - I was given a job...to man the bobbing for apples "station."  Now, if you know me, you know that bobbing for apples would gross me out...because of the germ factor, right?  The only time you'll catch me bobbing for apples is if I get to go first. :)  In fact, one kid even called it saying, "Isn't this kind of unsanitary?"  Another quickly responded, "No - they're apples.  They're good for you!" (seemingly confusing "unsanitary" with "unhealthy.") :)  Well, sanitary or not, I was there to man it.

At first, our numbers were pretty low...no one really seemed to be interested in bobbing for apples.  I chatted with a few neighbors and just waited, and then all of a sudden, about 10 kids showed up - all about middle school age - and started asking about bobbing for apples.  None of them had ever done it before, and a few seemed interested in trying it out.  So one kid tried it...and then another...and then another, and before I knew it, I was surrounded by kids - as little as kindergarteners and as old as 8th graders- all wanting to try out this "bobbing-for-apples-thing," and I was in my wheelhouse: encouraging kids, suggesting strategies, high-fiving, learning names...it was awesome. (In fact, when I got home this evening, J commented to me that it really looked like I was in my element tonight.)

I haven't been around a group of kids since I subbed at the end of last school year, and while I tutor a few kiddos individually, I don't have an opportunity to interact with groups of kids on a regular basis.  In fact, if I'm really honest with myself, there are some days when I think about my plan to go back to work when I have kids in school, and I just don't know that I have a desire to do that.  I just love being a stay-at-home-mom and being with P so much, and I can't imagine that being back in the classroom (or beyond) is where I need to be...

And then there are moments like tonight, where God winks.  Tonight He reminded me that He has gifted me in the areas of teaching and of interacting with young people in an encouraging way.  He reminded me that while He has given me gifts that allow me to both enjoy and get fulfillment from being a SAHM, He has also given me gifts that would allow me to serve other people's children.  Now, I don't know when that will be, or what that will look like, but tonight I was reminded that God has plans to use me outside of my home, as well as inside.  It was all I needed: just a little moment to rekindle that passion for the classroom and for working with groups of kids that is so easily lost when I'm with my precious boy (and understandably so! ;).

So what does the future hold for me?  I don't know...but I know who does...and I can't wait to find out what He has in store. ;)

21 months

How is it that my baby is 21 months old...almost to the age where we will speak of him in years as opposed to months? (which is probably okay, because sometimes it makes my brain hurt).  Here are some things I'd like to remember about P at this age:

He continues to have the sweetest little personality.  As much as he loves to run around, he still loves to snuggle, give you "pat-pats," and "smooches."  Admittedly, "pat-pats" and "smooches" are more of a "by-request" sort of thing (that was a lot of quotation marks...makes me think of the Friends episode where Joey uses air quotes, which you can appreciate if you were in high school and college in the 90s :)), but when that kid gives you an unsolicited smooch, it's just the best!

He makes us laugh!  He is spunky and funny and just exudes joy.  It's rather contagious...he loves to make you laugh and even more, loves it when you make HIM laugh (which you can easily do right now by pretending to sneeze...although, real sneezes are a hit, too). :)

He loves to listen to music and has several play-lists that are his favorites.  He has recently started doing some motions to songs (you know, the ones that I've been doing like an idiot in front of him since he was born?!), which is rather endearing.  His current repertoire includes: clapping anytime he hears that word in a song, although If You're Happy and You Know It is a preferred choice, pointing to his head, toes, and mouth at the appropriate times while singing Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes, putting his hand to his mouth when we say "the parents on the bus go - shhh, shhh, shhh" and sometimes putting his hands in front of his face when we say "the doors on the bus go open and shut" from The Wheels on the Bus, touching his head when we sing the second verse of Jack and Jill Went Up the Hill, and pretending to sleep (by putting one palm up to his ear) and yawn when singing the song You Gotta Shake Your Sillies Out.  I can't wait for more and more of these to come into rotation.

His current obsession is chasing or throwing balls around the house.  Up until now, he had really shown no interest in playing with balls, and then all of a sudden it was like a switch was flipped and now he can't get enough of them.  He likes to play a little version of basketball where he'll put the balls through the seat part of the Baby Jumperoo and Baby Exersaucer (which, yes, are still out at our house until we pass them along to a friend in the near future :)).  He loves to bounce them on our hardwoods or on the tile and put them on surfaces (like bedside tables) that he can then push them off of.  In fact, just yesterday, he played his first game of catch with Pops! (pictures to come)  Puzzles are still up there, although he now prefers puzzles that are harder and require mom and dad's help (like the jigsaw puzzle that Grandma Judy gave him that even J and I have to think about to put together - that thing isn't easy!).  He still enjoys reading, although he seems to be on the move more and more, which makes it harder to enjoy a good book.

We have been spending some good time at the park recently, where P enjoys following the sidewalk until it ends (which, just so you know, is WAY upsetting for him), swinging while being sung to, running up and back down the ramp of the playground equipment, and just yesterday, sliding down the big spiral slide.  He loves to be outside in general, but early morning or dinner-time is preferred because he gets to watch people driving to/ driving home from work.  He LOVES to watch cars and stops and stares as they drive by and points (which means he raises his arm straight up and grunts :)).

Our vocabulary is still VERY small (although he is a very good communicator), BUT he finally said "mama" for the FIRST TIME on Sept. 10.  We were in the kitchen, and he looked me square in the eyes and said "mama."  I thought it might have been a coincidence, so I didn't tell anyone, but thankfully, it has continued.  Hooray!  It's definitely more of a cry for help than a term of endearment: example - when he throws one of his balls into the bathtub and can't get it out or when he locks himself in the bathroom with the lights off, I will hear, "ah-mama-ah-mama," but it's still one of the sweetest sounds in the entire world! :)  He's a smart cookie and knew that people were starting to worry whether or not he'd ever say anything - so he threw in one good, solid, expected-by-society word to tide us over.

When he gets wound-up or excited, he'll say "Aaaa-Pull."  Is he pretending to sneeze?  Is it a violent version of "apple"? We're not sure...but it's pretty funny, and he thinks so, too.

When listening to the song The Green Grass Grew All Around,  he also seems to anticipate the verse about the bug and will make a "buh" sound.  Slowly but surely.

He has been babbling and babbling and babbling...trying to tell us something for sure - just in a language that we don't speak, but there's nothing more precious than the sound of that little voice. :)

 Here he is, cracking himself up. :)

As far as eating goes, his appetite is finally slowing down.  He's not as consistent of an eater as he used to be - sometimes devouring his breakfast and then eating a grape a two bites of roll for dinner and being "all done!"  He still is a good veggie eater - with broccoli and carrots being his favorites, followed by peas and corn (we should probably have stock in frozen veggies).  He also likes sweet potato, but doesn't seem interested in a regular baked potato.  He has turned his nose up at yogurt for quite some time now, although he's been a great milk drinker and cheese eater.  He doesn't seem to like ground meat of any kind, but loves chicken and pork and will eat fish.  He does not discriminate when it comes to fruit - put it in front of him, and he'll eat it.  He has preferences for snacks and will go to the pantry and get the box of what he wants from the bottom shelf.  He has also started bringing his empty water glass to the fridge and holding it up to ask for a refill. :)

Right now, we start our day with half a graham cracker - 1/4 of a cracker for each hand, and then snack on something like Cheerios or Shredded Wheat on the days that we run.  We eat our full breakfast around 8:45 or so, which recently has included either a Kashi blueberry waffle or oatmeal with diced dried plums, fruit, a veggie, black beans, cheese, and milk. :)  We tend to have a small snack mid-morning and then eat lunch around 12:30.  He has been loving turkey recently and has yet to be introduced to peanut butter.  He will have a small snack after his nap (which, praise the Lord, is consistently from 1:30-4:00).  He is a fan of the Plum Kids Yogurt Smoothie- which is nice and convenient for me...although I know I could totally make my own for cheaper (I think...).  We eat dinner about 6:15 or so, which means most nights we can eat as a family, so that's awesome!  A fun fact: Peanut will tell us that he's "all done" with dinner, but when we go to take his tray away, 98% of the time, he will reach for just one more bite of something...it's pretty funny to anticipate it.

Here he is making his new monkey sound...which I don't think he associates with the word "monkey," but never-the-less sounds like one. :)

 

95% of the time, P does bath time with his dad, which is nice for me. :)  Another fun fact: P does NOT like to walk to the bathtub...he wants to be carried.  Weird kid. :)  He loves to play in the bath and stick his head under the running faucet to drink the water.

Before bed we play, read a couple of books, sing a few songs (A Little Turned Up Nose and Jesus Loves Me), and then say prayers.  He goes to bed about 7:45.

 We did get a 2nd haircut that I thought eliminated all his curls (not because that's what I wanted but just because that's how it happened), but get that kid into some humidity and you can see that he has some curl left in there. :)

One final important note...Peanut is OBSESSED with Elmo and specifically this Elmo video that my mom got him called "Elmo - Singing with the Stars."   His favorite song is by Will.i.am called Stronger...I need to get a video of him watching it because it's stinkin' cute. :)  The problem is that he loves it SO much that when you turn it off, he tends to have a mental breakdown...we're working on that.

Well, if you've stuck with me up until this point, you're a more dedicated reader than I probably would be. :)  I just know that it's the mundane details that I will forget, and I appreciate that I'll be able to look back and remember some of the everyday things that made up our lives at this point in time.

We're definitely looking forward to the next few months and the fun that the holidays will bring for P this time around.

Stay tuned...upcoming blog topics include: Trader Joes coming to town, J's Olympic Triathlon, Pumpkin Recipe Madness, and best of all...a new air conditioner! ;)

What We've Been Up To...

You know you haven't posted in awhile when you start getting requests... :)  And I've had 2 in the past 24 hours.  So, without further ado, here's what we've been up to - as seen through the lens of my iPhone.

 We've started going out to dinner on Friday nights as a family from time to time...Mexican, of course.  Turns out P loves chips and that they can occupy him for a good amount of time. :)  Before we had P, we would get Mexican food almost every Friday (don't judge).  It's nice that we're reaching a stage where we can venture out again without a full picnic dinner packed for P.

 

  The Nut got his first haircut on August 15th.  I was fairly nervous and definitely didn't want to lose all those precious baby curls...so it's probably more accurate to say we got a "tiny trim" as opposed to a "haircut."

   He was a pretty good sport about the whole thing - playing with my phone and eating a snack for the whole 7 minutes it lasted. 

 He wanted nothing to do with the cape or the hair dryer - both elicited crying...

  So he just ate some goldfish...

 And maybe a few strands of his golden locks, but he didn't seem to care. :) 

 We went to the Rangers game with K and B to celebrate my 32nd birthday, and even though they lost, we had a great time!

 P is absolutely obsessed with puzzles right now and is insanely good at them.  Grammy Share and Grandpa Ron brought this one back from their trip to La Jolla, CA.  Nothing like puzzles in the bathtub!

 Check out his super-cute shoes. :)  I had gone to Dillards a few weeks ago to find some new shoes that P could wear to church.  They had a precious pair of Sperry top-siders...that cost $45!!!  There was NO WAY I was going to pay that for a pair of shoes that would last the kid a few months.  Then I went home and remembered that probably 8 months ago I had purchased a pair of GAP loafers from a consignment store for probably $6.50 or so...

 And lo and behold - they fit!  Score one for mom - cute shoes for 85% less.  Not too shabby.

 Recently, we've been able to eat dinner together as a family most nights, which is great.  P almost always finishes eating before us, and so we pluck him out of his high chair, and he plays in the kitchen while we finish up.  Recently, he's been enjoying emptying out all of the baskets of toys and books.  We don't know if he's looking for something in particular, or if he just enjoys taking everything out.  Either way, the kitchen becomes an obstacle course after dinner!

 P got a pretty good boo boo at the church nursery while he was playing outside on a little playground...but he didn't cry, so no one even realized it happened.  Thankfully, it never seemed to bother him. :)

 I took advantage of a Facebook deal from Einstein's Brothers Bagels and combined that with a coupon we got in the mail, and P and I enjoyed a breakfast date for about $2.  It was my first pumpkin treat of the season - pumpkin bagel with pumpkin cream cheese...P seemed kind of indifferent to the bagel - and DEFINITELY wanted nothing to do with the cream cheese.

 We spent Labor Day out at the ranch.  Here's P with his cousin Whitney.  Hopefully there will be a full post dedicated to Labor Day - complete with stolen pictures from Aunt Ann, since I didn't take ONE! (Well, that's a lie, as I took this one...but that's it!) :)

 

 This picture has a funny story to go along with it - probably about a month ago, we went to church, and J left the service a little early to go and pick up Peanut so we could visit a little after the service without feeling like we had abandoned our child.  Pretty soon after the service ended, J appeared with P.  When I saw them, J motioned something to me, and I thought he was indicating that our child's belly was sticking out from his shirt (which it was).  So, I motioned back for him to pull the shirt down.  J then pointed at P's pants...or lack there of.  My child was in the exact outfit you see above - polo shirt, Converse tennis shoes, and a diaper.  No pants.  

Don't worry.  We did put pants on the kid before we went to church, because we're classy like that.  The message that was conveyed to J by the teacher in the room was that P's pants were in his bag, but that "it wasn't his fault." ???  We had no idea what that meant.  And when we got home, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with the pants that were in his bag.  But whatever the case, J got to do a "holy walk of shame" through the halls of the church with our pant-less child. :)

Recently, P and I had a lunch date to Potbelly, and I don't know what he enjoyed more - the turkey sandwich or the guitar player. :)

 About two weeks ago, a cool front came through and we enjoyed some seasonally cooler temps.  We went for a walk around the neighborhood and enjoyed watching all the cars driving home from work.  We also picked up an acorn and carried it with us the entire time.  I can't wait for those cooler temps to come back...it's been in the 90's here the past few weeks...and HUMID!  Yuck!

 Here is P looking at his new favorite book, made by yours truly.  He LOVES looking at pictures of family members and having you name the person that he points to, so I made a book on Shutterfly with all of his family members and their names.  HE LOVES IT.

Here's a picture of one of the pages.  Did I mention that he loves it? :)

 I also made another book on Shutterfly - it's an ABC book (using a template they already have created) where you can put in your own pictures of meaningful people, places, and things for different letters.  I love the way it turned out, and he loves this one, too.

 I made a third Shutterfly book of pictures from my cousin's wedding (finally!), and I love the way it turned out, too (the page above on the right with all the small pictures shows all of our family members shooting skeet!) :)  So these three books are what I've been working on during nap time (among other things!)

So there you have it...that's what we've been up to for the past month or so. Consider yourself informed. :)

And one more makes three...

What a fun month this has been for reconnecting!  Last weekend J, P, and I went out to DFW (to the Grand Hyatt in the International Terminal to be exact) to spend some time with a very dear friend, Matt, and his family while they had a 5 hour layover.  Matt and I went to college together, were first year R.A.'s together, and then worked together for a year as Res. Life Coordinators for first year college students at our Alma mater.  He was an usher at our wedding, and I did a reading in his.  He is truly one of my favorite people in the entire world, and now when I get to see him, I get to see his wonderful family, too!

Here we all are...thanks, J, for taking the picture.  Matt's precious girls are 2.5 years and 5 months.  I kind of wanted to steal them, but don't tell their parents.  As you can see, P loves being held for pictures.  Sigh.  One bonus is that I tend to have a flexed bicep in most pictures where I am holding P, as I am desperately trying to restrain my child while wearing a cheery grin. :)

 Here's Miss J...is she not ridiculously cute!?!?  And she was so sweet to P - sharing toys, giving him high-fives, sharing her teddy grahams.  My child, on the other had, had several epic meltdowns and refused to share.  Nothing like making a great first impression, P.  Need a lesson in humbleness? - Have a kid. :)

 

Here are the kids playing puzzles, or maybe I should say J playing puzzles and P desperately trying to take control of the situation.

Even though it was a short visit, it was a great one.  It was the first time I got to meet their newest little one, and it was the first time they got to meet P.  You know you really like someone when you jump at the opportunity to go and hang out with them and your non-sharing 20 month old at the airport. :)  It was wonderful to see you (MK)^2 and (JK)^2...next time I hope it's for longer and doesn't have to involve corralling toddlers in an airport terminal. :)

Another visit with an old friend...

I am blessed.  I have had some pretty great friends in my life, and there are so many of them that I still keep in touch with, even though our paths don't get to cross regularly...whether that be because of busy schedules or because they live on the other side of the planet!

I got to see a dear friend from high school who I only get to see once a year because he lives on the other side of the planet...in Israel!  Eric, better known as Sammy, has been a buddy of mine since my high school band days.  We shared a love for music that might have gone beyond your "typical" band kid :), and we connected over that.  Eric and his dad (an incredibly accomplished professional jazz pianist) invited me to go to the Van Cliburn Piano Competition at Bass Hall in Fort Worth one year, and they also took me to hear UNT's "One O'Clock Lab Band" (an incredible jazz ensemble at the university).  I have such fond memories of both of those evenings, as it is a real treat to spend time around people who are such insane appreciators of all types of music! :)

Sammy is one of those people who has a gift for staying in touch, and I am SO thankful that he does!  In fact, he has spent time with the Peanut on three different occasions - kind of impressive considering the kid's only 20 months old and that Eric lives 7,000 miles away!

Here's a picture of the first time he met Parker in Feb. 2011 when P was just 6 weeks old!

 And here we are yesterday...P is throwing a fit fussing because Eric's mom is using my phone to take the picture, and P wants to play with my phone.  Lovely. :)

(As a fun side note, Eric's mom works with the newborns at the hospital where I delivered P, so she met P right after he was born!)

As it tends to go, visiting with a 20 month old doesn't allow for the most relaxing of conversations, but Sammy's an uncle, so he's a pro and rolls with the punches. :)

Again, I am so thankful that I have a loyal friend in someone like Sammy, and I pray that everyone can experience that kind of friendship in their life.  As Eric put in his e-mail, "The Hebrew is כן יהי רצון- ken yehi ratzon - may it be His will." Amen to that.

"It takes a long time to grow an old friend..."

My birthday celebration started early this year with a visit from my high school best friend, Justine.  Now, if you're doing your math, you'll realize that this means that we've known each other for (gulp) 17 years, although I think we would both tell you that we didn't really become good friends until our junior year and then joined at the hip our senior year...either way, we've been buds for a LONG time, and since it's been more or less since high school that we've lived in the same place for any significant amount of time, any chance to spend some time together is such a gift!

Justine pointed out that we probably hadn't been in the same place to celebrate my birthday since high school, so she thought we should live it up...I decided not to fight this idea, and thus ensued a wonderfully girly, relaxing, and maybe even semi-fancy birthday celebration.

Here we are post b-day celebration.

  We started off in the "semi-fancy" category going to eat at Seasons 52, which was really awesome. (It is earning its "semi-fancy" label because we had a choice of white or black napkins...kind of fancy for lunch - I'm just sayin.').  We split an eggplant flat bread and both got arugula salads with watermelon, grilled golden beets (a fave of Justine's...true confession - I'd never even heard of them, let alone tasted one...but they were good!), goat cheese, jicama, and toasted pistachios.  For dessert they have these "mini indulgences."  I busted out the camera phone to capture our choices - rocky road and pecan pie.  Both delicious. (Second confession - I could have eaten more than one...or maybe more than 2, but I showed some restraint.)

After lunch we took advantage of a Groupon and enjoyed massages and then pedicures and manicures.  Very girly.  Very fun.  Very relaxing.

 

After our relaxing afternoon, we came back to the house where Peanut showed Justine some of his tricks.  He helped her with the stacking rings...

And let her read him the Healthy Monster Triathlon book (a ridiculously funny find in the Target Dollar bin that helps me to explain to my child what his daddy is training for via Elmo and Telly!).

Our fun didn't end there.  I was also able to go and visit with her family the next day and meet their 2 new kittens!!! (shout out to Cleo and Theo!) and then enjoy some Starbucks and great conversation into the wee hours of the morning later that night, where we didn't solve all of the world's problems, but we sure tried! :)

(p.s. - Check out my cool girl nail color! - OPI's You Don't Know Jacques!)

It was SUCH fun to get to spend some quality time with one of my favorite people in the entire world. :)  I am reminded what a blessing it is to have a friend that even though you don't see often, when you do, you just hop right back on into things like a day hasn't even gone by.  Thanks for being that kind of friend, Justine...and thanks for such a wonderful b-day celebration! :)

Favorite Things Party

The girls from my Sunday school class recently got together for a "Favorite Things" party.  Here's how it works: pick one of your favorite things (under $10) and purchase 3 of that item to bring with you to the party.  Everyone else will do the same thing.  When you arrive at the party, put your name on three pieces of paper, which will be used for the drawing later on.  Everyone will tell about their favorite thing - and then three names will be drawn.  Those three people will be the lucky ones to take home that item.  At the end of the evening, you will have found out about all sorts of fun "favorites," and you'll leave with three of them! 

 

Our table of goodies!

 

 Aveda Peppermint Oil - rub on your temples to help with headaches!

 Trader Joe's Cookie Butter = peanut butter meets gingerbread = heaven

+2 William Sonoma perfectly small spatula and spoonula :)

 Addictive L'OCCITANE hand lotion

 Yummy-smelling hand sanitizer and Minty lip gloss that gives you shiny lips and fresh breath!

 Potbelly Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and Prairie Creek Salsa...YUM!

 

 What's better than a cute bag that zips?  A monogrammed cute bag that zips!

 Voluspa candle in Santiago Huckleberry...find it at an Anthropologie near you!

 A Woodwick candle that smells divine and makes a crackling sound when it burns...plus mini chewy Sweetarts.

 Dry shampoo!!!

Twistbands...a super cute way to spruce up your ponytail. :)

We really had SUCH a great time!  Everyone brought one of their favorite foods for dinner, so we enjoyed great food, fellowship, and favorite things!  We can't wait for our next one...we're thinking about a "Christmas stocking" theme...