Micaiah Rais - 2 years

What a fun year Micaiah has had! So much as happened and he has grown so much! To start of the year we moved from Chattanooga to Augusta. Thankfully the move was pretty seamless for him. He learned to walk at 14 months. He became a big brother at 18 months. He was potty trained at 20 months. And he finished up the year by moving to a big boy bed at 24 months.

There are so many things that I want to remember about Micaiah at 2, this might be kind of lengthy.

*He fell out of the crib for the first time on August 15 of this year. He was visiting Mimi and Papa at the time.

*His favorite song is Happy Birthday. We sing it to everything! He pronounces it "Hap Buh Duh"

*He still loves trains, planes, playing outside, coloring, cooking (for real or in his play kitchen), giving kisses to Caeden, bathtime, and dogs, dogs, and more dogs, and Cookie Monster.

*He likes to help me make bread each week, and he can tell you all of the ingredients.

*One of his newest loves is school buses. The other day while driving he saw one. I hadn't seen it, and when I questioned him about the said bus, he replied "turn around!" That was the first time he has said that, so it made me chuckle.

*He still does not love his class at MOPS. Scott and I counted, and previous to MOPS, he has only been in someone else's care besides a family member seven times in 2 years. SEVEN. So it's no wonder he's a little freaked out by the concept. I still drop him off each time, and we are working on getting him more and more used to it.

*Just a few weeks before his second birthday he finally started stringing 2 and 3 words together and using multiple syllables! We weren't sure if that day would come.

*I love it when he talks about Mimi and Papa (who he only gets to see once or twice a month) and he'll say "see her" (or him, depending on which one he's talking about). When I tell him we can't see them today and that they live in Atlanta, he'll say "call her." So sweet.

*Micaiah is a major fussy foo in the mornings until he eats breakfast. I know there are other people this way, it's just new to me because I'm not one of them! Hopefully it's a quirk he'll outgrow. Or at least he better outgrow the fussing part of it.

*He knows all of his colors, can count to five, can finish words to the alphabet song, Thomas song, and almost any book that we regularly read.

*He calls Caeden "Cain" and himself "Cai". He knows that I am Ashley and Scott is daddy.

*Every night we ask Micaiah who he would like to pray for. He comes up with various people he knows and family members, but the one who almost always tops the list: Howard, from next door, who he calls "Hoooow"

*He refers to himself as "you" and me as "me". If I had a penny for every time he has said "hold you" we'd have a decent college fund started. He also frequently says "watch me" when he wants to watch ME do something.

We love our little boy and are so incredibly blessed to be his parents!

A Mary Spirit

I read Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver awhile back. It really resonated with me. This year Having a Mary Spirit, also by Joanna Weaver, was on my reading list. I am working my way through it right now, and can I just say, I love it! It seems very pertinent to where I'm at in life right now. Very fitting and exactly what I need. I can always tell when I like a book because I'll find 5 or 10 minutes here and there to read it whereas other books I'm not crazy about will take me 4 or 5 months to finish!

I just read a paragraph that I really liked and thought I'd share:

True faith requires obedience. It requires being willing to stake everything on God's love and faithfullness-and then doing what He asks. Even when we don't understand. Even when He demands that we give up the things we love the most. That's the kind of faith Abraham showed when he packed up his son and a load of firewood and headed for Mount Moriah...For though God promised Abraham that "through Isaac...your offspring will be reckoned", the greatest act of Abraham's faith was leaving the reckoning up to God. And it is the same for us. When we stop trying to manhandle our circumstances and start giving them to God, something incredible happens. God takes everything we give Him and begins to work on our behalf. Because we've chosen to believe and trust rather than doubt and fear, He makes all of it-the good and the bad-count for us rather than against us.

By the way, I'm changing the URL/address of the blog. Not because I'm not still trying to live simply with joy, but just because I want something simpler and easier to remember. And I like it better. It's not set up yet at ALL, but I'll go ahead and tell you that it's www.scottandashleywilliams@blogspot.com I'll post something here when it's officially all switched over.

A little of this and a little of that

So obviously I haven't written anything on the blog in a long time besides Caeden's monthly updates. Our lives are just so full (in a good way!) that I've had little time for it. Also my computer has been on the fritz so I have been sharing Scott's computer. That's not a problem, but it's just one more reason I don't do much of things such as blogging.

I did want to give a little update on what we've been doing around here lately though.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Scott and I have been doing a LOT of thinking and praying about where we're at in life, where we've been, and where we need to be. Ever since we moved in August of last year, we've been in a season of transition...and it's not over.

*Micaiah turned two! We had a fun time throwing him a party. One of his current loves is trains, so I made him a train cake. Recently, "Happy Birthday" is one of his favorite songs. We sing happy birthday to everything: Mama, Daddy, Caeden, 'Cai' (as he calls himself), grandparents, dogs, trees, candles, shorts...whatever happens to catch his eye.

*Caeden is now 6 months old. I cannot believe how fast his first year is flying by. Before we know it, he'll be running right alongside Micaiah.

*We've started him on solid foods now, and it has been so much fun. We are doing a "Baby-led weaning" style, which is basically letting the baby learn to self feed from the start, and as their abilities progress and they take in more and more solid food, they in turn take in less milk. Probably the best thing about it is that it is a really simple, no fuss, method. No purees, no adding only one food at a time, and no spoon feeding. We just offer him fresh, good food and let him have at it. It has been so fun to watch. He's not very proficient yet to say the least. Supposedly it takes about two months for the baby to actually consume decent amounts of food and realize that it fills the belly. It has been neat to watch him explore the different tastes and textures thus far.

*We are moving! We're just moving into some apartments in the area for 6 months while we continue to seek God and what he wants for us. This is so, so, so very exciting for us!!!

*Micaiah has said "lehdeleh" to mean "all done" since he was probably about 13 or 14 months old. I have no idea why he decided that is how he would say it, but we know what he means so we haven't worried about it. I just figured he would say it the right way eventually. Oftentimes lately he will shorten it: He'll say "leh roomtime" for "I'm all done with roomtime" or "leh pah" for "I'm all done with the potty." Well the other day I asked him if he could say "all done" and I walked him through each word. And he did! Perfectly! Who knew all I had to do was ask. :) He's a goober.

*I cut Caeden's nails the other night. It was time for bed, so I just left the clippings on his nightstand to get them later. The next day Micaiah was playing in the room while I changed Caeden and I heard a "whoooo whoooooo whooo." Then I heard a "keen up." Yes, Micaiah blew the nail clippings all onto the floor. I have learned my lesson.

*Still nothing has happened with our house. We're not really sure what God is doing with that. Maybe he wants us back in it. It's something we're pondering.

*I joined a MOPS group in the area and I've really been enjoying it. There are some playdates and fun field trips planned for the fall that should be really fun! Hopefully we can get Micaiah more used to being around other kids. It kind of freaks him out right now to have a bunch of other kids around without me there.

*Remember last year when I failed royally at preparing my heart and mind for Christmas? Well this year I've started thinking ahead early. I am adapting this simple countdown to use during Advent with the boys. I also just ordered this book to read during my quiet time. I've heard it recommended before, and it sounds like it's good stuff for the soul. It's hard to believe that the holiday season is just around the corner.

*The last little tidbit: Micaiah is now sleeping in a 'new bed' (as he calls it). Actually his crib just converts to a toddler bed. We tried doing this 4 months ago, but he was not ready. Maybe more accurately I was not ready for the training it would require. So we put the railing back up and waited. We tried again this past week and he has done great. He has done very well with going right to sleep, and waiting in the bed after he wakes up until someone comes to get him instead of getting out to play. Whew!

Happy Weekend everyone!

Caeden Elijah - 6 months

Weight: 15.14 pounds

Height: 27.5 inches

Eating: Nursing is still going well. We moved him to a true 4 hour schedule a few days before he turned 6 months. He nurses at 7:00/11:00/3:00/6:50.

Waketimes: The first waketime is an hour and a half to an hour and 15 minutes. The next one is 2 hours, and before the third nap is 2 hours to 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Sleeping: 2- 2 hour naps and a 30-60 minute catnap. Night sleep is good overall. He had 4 nights of mystery waking 2 weeks ago or so, but I just fed him and put him back to bed. He ate well then and again at the first feed of the day, so I'm thinking it was a growth spurt. He has also been waking earlier than my desired wakeup time by an hour or less for the last week. I am chalking that up to Wonder Week 26. He hasn't done it every single morning in the last week, but it is something we are working through.


New discoveries and other notes: He is not content to just lay on the floor and play in one spot. If he's going to be on the floor, he's going to be rolling. And rolling. And rolling. He is in constant motion. Right now as I'm typing this he has rolled into Scott's dresser and is batting it with his arm like he's trying to move it out of his way so he can keep going. He is a fiesty little guy, letting us know when something needs to change. He has an impeccable ability to cry as if his arm is being chopped off when really all that is the matter is he dropped a toy....or we change his diaper...or you sit down with him when he wants you to stand up. :)

Favorite toys: playgym, mobile, jumperoo, and the swing outside! He really like the foam letters that can stick to the walls in the bathtub. We did some experiementing and figured out the the Y is the easiest for him to hold and get to his mouth. Micaiah received some train tracks for his birthday, and I think that it is the first toy of his that Caeden can bother and mess up. Although right now he of course doesn't realize he's bothering Micaiah. But it's funny because whenever Micaiah is playing with his trians, Caeden will purposefullyly roll right over to the tracks and try to roll on top of them. It's like he wants to be right in the middle of playing with his brother...and I'm sure he does!

Caeden Elijah - 5 months

So I know I stink at blogging. The last post was about Caeden at 4 months, and now this post about him at 5 months is being posted almost a month late with nothing else inbetween. Oh well. Maybe blogging isn't for me. :) Nevertheless, here's his update!

Weight: 15 pounds (still!)

Height: TBD

Nursing: We moved him last week to a 3.5/4 hour routine which has been SO much better for him. He wasn’t eating so well on a 3 hour schedule there for the last few weeks. With this change he dropped down to 4 feeds a day. Nursing times are 7:00/10:30/2:30/6:30.

Waketimes: The first waketime is about 75 minutes. The other waketimes of the day are from 90 minutes and 2 hours, respectively.

Sleeping: 2.25 for the first nap, 2 hours for the second nap, and anywhere from 45 min to 1.5 hours for the third nap. Night sleep is still going well at 12 hours.

Something super sweet that happened this month is how drastically he changed how he feels about our pre-nap calm down routine. Starting from around 13 weeks old, he began to just SCREAM in protest when I was trying to do our wind down time before nap. It was not enjoyable or calming at all for either of us. Usually I just ended up plopping him in his bed and letting that be that. I don’t know why, but I had never thought to pray about the issue. However as soon as I did, the very next day it was like he was a different baby. God is so good. Now as soon as we walk into his room and turn on the sound machine, he lays his head on my chest and sucks his thumb. He always sticks his other arm straight up and rubs his hand back and forth on my shoulder. I just love it! It is such a special time of day now getting to cuddle with my little man.

New discoveries and other notes: He discovered that he can reach and play with his feet now. A few weeks ago he began waking up happily from naps and nighttime. It is such a nice sound to hear him waking up talking to himself rather than squalling. He also now has a thumb preference. He only sucks the left thumb, whereas he used to suck whichever one was closest. If he’s not sucking his thumb, then his right hand is in this mouth chewing on those fingers. During playtime he’s getting to where he much prefers sitting up somehow rather than lying down. He loves to watch Micaiah play. His eyes will lock onto him and he’ll follow wherever Micaiah goes. It’s hard to believe that one day soon they’ll be talking and playing together.

Favorite toys: playgym, mobile, and jumperoo. You also really love Sophie the giraffe and links. Anything you can chew, chew, chew, and chew!

"numping", splashing, and swishing

As much as we long for a home of our own, we sure are enjoying having a pool in the backyard! We took both boys out the other evening to play. My favorite thing is when Micaiah asks to 'nump' aka jump. He has grown more and more brave throughout the course of the summer. He started off not even wanting to get in the water!

pasty boy needs some sunlight

We've been working on not yelling inside, and so here he was discovering that it's ok to be loud outside. Each time he would do it he would love over at us to make sure we weren't going to be mad about it. :)

Nump!

Caeden Elijah - 4 months

Weight: 15 pounds (50th percentile)

Height: 26 inches (just over 90th percentile)

Nursing: All is well. I said last month that you started to eat faster. Well this month you *really* started to eat faster. So much so that I thought for a little while you were eating less. After a few days of worrying, I realized you are just eating quicker. You are super eater. Not so with a bottle though. The few bottles you’ve had take you about 30 minutes.
You nurse at 7:00/10:00/1:00/4:00/6:45.

Waketimes: The first waketime is about 55 minutes. The other waketimes of the day are anywhere from 65-75 minutes.

Sleeping: 3- two hour naps a day. 12 hours at night.

Dropping the 4th nap: At 14 weeks you all of a sudden stopped taking a solid 4th nap. You suddenly started taking a shorter nap and then you stopped sleeping for it at all, all within the span of a few days. At 15 weeks we extended the waketime before that nap. With that, you continued to take the nap for two more weeks until we dropped it altogether at 17 weeks. This will definitely make going out to dinner easier, as well as provide a larger time block in the evenings to get out of the house or take a walk.

Dropping the swaddle: 2 or 3 nights after you turned three months old, I tried to let you settle yourself in the night to break that habit I mentioned last month. It wasn’t happening, so when I went into your room I decided to take you out of the swaddle. You immediately relaxed. For the rest of that night and the nights that followed we left one arm out of your swaddle. That way you could get your thumb. From then on you have slept all night. We did that for a week and a half before leaving both arms out, so now you are swaddle free.

New discoveries and other notes: You just learned how to roll from back to tummy (July 27)! We are loving how you will smile and laugh at pretty much anyone who looks your way. We do not necessarily love the fact that you no longer enjoy sleeping in the car. I think the main reason you can’t is because Micaiah is so loud. It makes for a long trip to and from Atlanta!
　
Favorite toys: swing, playgym, and you just LOVE the mobile. However I cannot leave it hooked to the bed because you will just stare at it and not go to sleep. Your thumb is probably your most favorite thing to "do". It is constantly soaking wet. Right or left, day or night, asleep or awake, you love your thumb and are perfectly content to just lay on the floor with it in your mouth.

Puppy love

To say that Micaiah adores Fabio would probably be an understatement. This child just loves him! All the way to Atlanta Micaiah talked about taking Fabio potty outside with his leash and then giving him a treat. Even now as he watches me upload these pictures he is saying "Fah, Fah, Fah, Fah!" It almost makes me want to get him a dog of his own. Almost.

Rumblings and a perspective change

But forget all that—it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. (Isaiah 43: 18-19)

You know what you think of when you think about the rumblings at the start of an earthquake? Or even the far off thunder from a storm that is coming? You know something is about to happen. You can feel it. That's what the Holy Spirit is doing here in Augusta. God has been moving in big ways, opening doors of relationships that will be instrumental for God to usher in His kingdom among people who need it. Big things are about to happen. The Holy Spirit is about flow. I don't know exactly when it will happen. It may not happen until after we leave Augusta, but things are a-rumbling. It may sound strange, but I can literally feel it. When Jesus sent out the 72, he sent them two by two to every town and place where he himself was about to go (see Luke 10). We (no doubt a pair!) have been brought here to this city by the Lord to prepare the city for Him by cultivating the soil and planting seeds, and he is coming after us.

Now about that perspective change. It only took me 8 months to get here. Originally upon moving away from all of our security, I had the opinion that we were moving to Augusta to plant churches. We had a tangible something that we were going to do. Now in a way that is still true. However I have come to realize that more than anything else we are here to live life. We're not on a task to complete something per sae. We're just here to live. In the process of our living, we hang out as a family, we're raising our two boys, Scott works at the Y, we're intentionally building relationships with people in the community for the purpose of sharing Jesus, and from there churches will organically spring up. Organic is just that....organic. It just happens; it comes about naturally throughout the course of our daily lives. Now that might not make a lick of sense to you, but it makes sense in my head, so there you have it. :)

Naptime is about over. I love my boys, but I love this time of the day too when their naps overlap and I have 2 hours to relax. And I really do try to relax and do things for myself and not rush around trying to get things done. Sometimes I do, but for the most part I rather do the housework while they're around, for many reasons, and save naptime for relaxing. But that's a whole other topic for another time. Happy Friday everyone!!!

CVS check-in

So I said a little over a month ago that I was going to give CVSing another try. Well I've tried and I'm hooked. Moneysavingmom.com recommends giving yourself at least 3 months to see if it saves you enough money to make it worth it. I have spent a total of $18.07 for $97.78 worth of stuff, and I have $10 in Extra Care Bucks to continue spending--it's like Monopoly money! And yes, it's all stuff that we actually need and will use. That is savings enough in my book! In the last month I've learned a few things:

1) It is time consuming. But now I do take extra time so that I can guard against the problems I had with CVS before. I also come up with back-up plans because CVS is usually out of at least one thing I plan on buying. And I am sometimes willing to take the extra time to go around town to another CVS if they might have what I'm looking for. I'm also still a newbie.

2) They'll give you rain checks for all of those things that they're out of!

3) Because it sometimes takes them awhile to re-stock items that have been sold out, they will re-issue Extra Care Bucks that are about to expire.

I'll check in again at months 2 and 3 to see how the savings continue stacking up.

my new obsession

Spinach and pita bread. Yum! I've been trying to add some darker greens to our diet for their good-for-you properties. I like spinach, I just haven't eaten it much before the last month or so. I like spinach salads, but only with a new homeade viniagrette I discovered. I'll have to share that dressing recipe soon. Also when Scott and I also have smoothies once or twice a week for breakfast, we like to put greens into them for an extra punch of nutrition. And I promise, you CAN'T taste them at all! And if you can taste it, just add more fruit.

But probably the way I have been eating the most spinach lately is with homemade pita pockets. I love these! I've made them once or twice over the last several years, not making them often because I have always remembered it being more time consuming and difficult than it really is. In reality it's so easy! Granted, I have a bread machine to do all of the mixing and kneading for me. I'm not really sure I would make my own breads if I didn't. Kneading by hand for 7-10 minutes until you reach the ever elusive "smooth elastic" isn't really my thing. However having a machine to do all that for me so that I can feed my family a more quality bread product IS my thing. But I digress.

Here's the pita pocket recipe in case you want to try it. I'll include the longer by-hand version. But if you have a bread machine or stand mixer, save yourself the time and throw your ingredients into that instead.

1 cup warm water (like for a nice, hot bath)

1 T oil

1 tsp

2 tsp sugar

3 cups flour (I use a blend of whole wheat and white)

1 1/2 tsp yeast

1. In a large bowl, combine the first 4 ingredients. Add 1 cup of the flour, along with the yeast, and stir to mix. Add remaining flour and knead to make a soft dough. (Add additional flour if necessary during kneading.) **If using a bread machine or mixer, skip to step 3**

2. Put your dough into an oiled bowl, flipping the dough ball once to coat oil on both sides. Set in a warm place to rise, until almost double (about an hour).

3. Punch the dough down and then turn it out onto a floured surface. Break the dough into 8 pieces. Form each piece into a ball. Roll each ball into a 6 or 7 inch circle.

4. As you roll the rounds, set them aside on a lightly floured surface and cover loosely with a towel. Let rise for 20-25 minutes, until slightly puffy (they will still be thin, though!)

5. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Place 2 rounds, side by side, onto a wire rack (like you would use to cool things). Place the rack in the middle of the oven and bake for 4-5 mintues, until puffy and just slightly browned.

6. Remove rack from the oven and immediately wrap/layer the rounds in a damp towel (I use paper towels), to soften. They will air out and flatten a little as they cool. Continue baking and wrapping the remaining pitas.

7. Allow pitas to completely cool.

8. Cut pitas in half, or split the top edge, and fill as desired.

9. Store pitas in a plastic bag in the fridge for a few days, or in the freezer for longer storage. They re-warm very easily from the freezer in the microwave or oven. Just be sure to wrap in a damp paper towel (and then foil on top if using the oven) before sticking the microwave to warm so that they stay soft.

I have been eating these like crazy with honey mustard, deli meat, and then cheese on top. I toast it to melt the cheese, and add spinach when it comes out. It's a great lunch! Micaiah likes these too, and will just gobble them up.

Enjoy!

Caeden Elijah - 3 months

Given that you were born on the 31st of March, and not every month has 31 days, you are not technically 3 months until tomorrow. But tomorrow is June 1st, and you were not born on the 1st of the month. This bothers the perfectionistic side of me greatly! :)

Weight: 15 big ones!

Height: TBD

Nursing: All is well. You have sped up your eating a ton just in the last 2 weeks. It now only takes you about 10-15 minutes to nurse total, as opposed to 40! You eat at 7:00/10:00/1:00/4:00/6:45.

Waketimes: First waketime of the day is 50 minutes. The others are anywhere from 50-60 minutes. This of course includes eating, so it is a good thing that you eat faster now; you have more time to play!

Sleeping: 3- two hour naps a day. I wake you up from your 4th nap after an hour and 15 minutes so that you can be bathed and fed before bedtime at 7:00. After getting back from Orlando, you reverted to only sleeping 8 hours at night again. When you eat in the middle of the night, you do not nurse well for 'breakfast' anymore. Now a few weeks into this happening, I'm afraid you've developed a habit because you pretty much wake at 3:30 every night. Waking consistently at the same time is a tell-tale sign of a habit. We are now dealing with breaking this habit. :)

New discoveries and other notes: You can roll over tummy to back. You suck your thumb all.the.time. Your newborn hair has pretty much all fallen out except for what I call the "clown hair" near your neck. You are still extrememly sensitive to being overstimulated. Too many people or too much excitement is a recipe for disaster for you. You spend 95% of your time in the quiet upstairs of our house with just mommy or daddy and very small doses of Micaiah. I'm okay with that for now. I know you'll get there and will be able to hang out downstairs around more toddler activity and grandma and grandpa before too long. I also wanted to mention that you know exactly when it is naptime. When we walk into your room, turn off the light, and turn the sound machine on, you begin your protest. You stiffen your little body and fuss and grunt until I lay you down. As soon as I do, you peacefully go off to sleep. It's almost like all you want is your bed at that point. All this means is that you have a generally shorter "calm down" time now than you used to. It has gone from 5 minutes to about 2-3 minutes.

**Update** I forgot to add that you had your first bottle this month! You took it like a champ. You also have started talking to anyone and everyone who will listen. :)

I don't go to church. I am the church.

Scott and I walked away from the Greenhouse training in Orlando with a lot to chew on. This was to train people how to start organic churches. Because I like bullet points, I'm going to just shoot off a few of the things that stood out to me. (This is all through Scott's notes and conversations with him because I didn't attend the training myself)

-The church is not a what it is a who. I love this. We so often forget this. This bears repeating.

-We expect too much in the first year and not enough in the first ten. This was super encouraging to both of us as we reflect on the last 7 (can you believe it's been SEVEN?!?!) months that we've been here in Augusta to do "this". After talking with others, it is TOTALLY NORMAL to be in the shoes we're in right now when just getting on board with organic church. We (probably more accurately, I) have often felt like we're not doing what we should. People ask how it's going, and I feel a slight bit of shame as I say I have nothing to report. But we're normal, all is well, and shame I should feel no longer!

-We are like ants. On the surface, it doesn't look like they're doing much, but they are building empires underground. All the prayer, prayer walking, searching, thinking, talking, and relationship building that we have been doing is just what we should be doing until God leads otherwise. It may not look like we're doing much yet, but we're laying a groundwork and cultivating soil.

-Organic church is just that, organic. It gets rid of all of the man made structures.

-You can't make organic church happen. God does. He is the Lord of the harvest, not us.

-We are to plant the gospel through our relationships with the people in the community to where God leads us. Then we are to let the indigenous people decide where the church meets. The church, as all living things, has a life cycle. It should die to reproduce more. Meeting together as one particular group does not mean that it will remain that same group forever. As new disciples and leaders are made, they too go out into the field to plant seeds of the gospel and begin new churches.

-Any fool can do their best. He who believes in Christ attempts the impossible, and Christ in him is able to perform it! Why should I cower and be afraid? It's not about me!

One last thing that I was reminded about during the trip is something I read several months ago about light vs. darkness. Jesus says that we are the light. The gates of hell will not prevail against it. Gates are defensive. Therefore we should be on the offensive, NOT scared of the darkness, and running straight towards it with our light shining. Growing up in an upper middle class, very white, suburban area, I have a tendancy to be quite afraid of the darkness. Not that there wasn't darkness all around me growing up, it just wasn't the obvious kind. Either that or I am just oblivious (which is equally likely!). This is not to say that we should be careless and walk down dark alleys alone at night. However I have Jesus, and so I should not be afraid. Bottom line.

Huge sigh of relief. We're golden. Jesus is the king. We are to listen and be obedient to his leading.

By the way, no one else we know personally does church this way, so you will find no condemnation here if you choose not to. However we love talking about the simple way to do church as opposed to the 'traditional structure' so if you ever want to talk about it, we would love to talk to you anytime!

Vanilla Bean Scones

Scones have been on my "recipes to try" list for some time. I felt intimadated by them for some reason. After attempting Pioneer Woman's recipe, I see that there's really no reason to be! These are delicious! We've already eaten them for breakfast, snack, and dessert. :)

By the way, I feel like a cheesy imposter....taking pictures of the fruits of my labor to post on my blog. But afterall, isn't that what you're supposed to do when you have a blog?

Vanilla Bean Scones

Micaiah asked if I could please take a picture of his scone too.

My how time flies

I just was thinking the other day how when we first moved here to Augusta the week of Thanksgiving, Micaiah wasn't walking yet. It wasn't until the beginning of December that he took his first steps, and now he's practically running. How did that happen?? God, I don't want to miss a second...

Orlando

We're back from the Greenhouse Training in Orlando with no pictures, two very tired boys, and more to think, process, and talk about than we could possibly do in a week!

Here is some lovely linkage. These are just some articles I like from the CMA (church multiplication associates) website.

Nomad-a church without a home ~ this is just a cool story and what Scott and I want to be about

Sunday mornings ~ this may step on some toes, but I liked it so much that I wanted to post it anyway

What is a missional community ~ this is kinda how we view church these days

Happy Hump Day!

Potty and Thomas

We've been working on potty training lately with Micaiah. He is gradually picking up on the process. We've had a few successes and many accidents. Which by the way, if you use our library, I would think twice before checking out Clifford's Birthday Party. (Enough said!)

At any given point during the day, you are likely to find Micaiah on the froggy potty and this song ringing through the room. He likes to listen to it over and over and over. I'm just glad they have the words on the screen so I can sing along too. :)

Caeden Elijah - 2 months

**I kinda forgot to do one of these for Caeden at one month. I'll have to go back and add it in later. I chronicled Micaiah's first year as well, because I just want to be able to remember this stuff when they are older.**

Weight: 13 pounds 13.5 oz (95th percentile! Chunky little man!)

Height: 23 inches long

Nursing schedule: 7:00/9:30-10:00/1:00/4:00/7:00

Waketime length: You can stay awake for about 40-45 minutes first thing in the morning and 50-55 minutes for your other waketimes of the day.

Sleeping: 4 naps a day, two hours each. You have trouble waking at the 45 minute transition, but if you don't put yourself back to sleep within a few minutes, if we flip you over to your tummy and give you the paci you will usually fall back to sleep for the remainder of your nap. You started sleeping 11-12 hours at night during your 9th week. Yes, that's right folks, I said 12 hours! I'm a little shocked myself. Micaiah didn't do that until 14 weeks. Babywise says that anywhere from 9-15 weeks the average baby has the capacity to sleep 9-10 hours at night, so I would have been pleased with that. But you are capable of more and need the sleep, so have at it!

New discoveries: You smile and coo all the time. Your favorite cooing sound is to say "ooooooh" I love it when you are nursing and you stop periodically to look up at me and smile. You really enjoy your play gym and your swing. Your big brother just adores you and loves to give you kisses. He will sit next to you while you lay under your play gym and "play" with you. He shares toys with you. One day you were laying on the floor next to him while he was sitting on the potty. You started smiling and giggling. Micaiah's face just lit up at seeing you smile. You are great brothers already.

Kitchen cure

Micaiah tends to be very much a fussy foo in the kitchen when I am trying to cook, clean, or prepare a meal. (Since we're living with his grandma and grandpa, he has grown extremely custom to having someone available pretty much all the time to play with him, so when I am *gasp* trying to do something else, he's not so much a fan of it. We're working on this!) He loves to stand up on a chair and help, which he does often. But there are other times that I just want to work a little more quickly. Today we found a cure for the kitchen fussies: some rice, bowls, cups, and a spoon. Instant toddler fun!

CVS

As many of you know, I love a good deal. Coupons+sales are my friends. I get an adrenaline high off of a sweet deal. Especially ones like today when Kroger paid me to buy two bottles of body wash for Scott.

I have tried to play the CVS game 3 or 4 times over the last few years. The first time I gave up because the store was always sold out of the items I wanted by the time I got there. The second time I tried I decided to do my CVS shopping earlier in the week to try and get there before the other crazy coupon ladies of Lawrenceville cleared the shelves. However I gave up again after a few weeks because the workers at "my" CVS store were not very knowledgeable about coupons in general or their coupon policy, so my transactions were not working as I hoped they would. The third time I tried was when we were living on Lookout Mountain. Whereas the store had awesome workers and usually had the items I wanted, it was all the way down the mountain, and I didn't usually have time to go there plus any other errands I needed to run all within the time frame I had before getting Micaiah back up the mountain for his next nap.

I decided last week to try again. Now I may be bragging a little bit, but how can I NOT give CVS another try? Given that I got all of the above pictured items for a mere $6. Especially when you consider that the price of the diapers alone is $8.99 (on sale!). It still baffles me how it works, but their Extra Care Bucks system, when used strategically, really is like their own little land of Monopoly money.

God is so good. I was just thinking recently how our stock of toothbrushes was getting low and how I needed another pack of diapers for Micaiah for a trip we're taking this weekend. And then low and behold what did He provide for me this week at a STEAL of a price?

Renovation

If anyone is still out there reading, hi!

To blog or not to blog...that is the question! I am in the process of renovating things around here on the blog. Now that daily life is taking more of a consistent shape these days after the birth of Caeden, I think I'm ready to dive into blogging consistently. Here are some pictures to hold you over until things get going.

Tiny toes tickling the sand at Pensacola beach

We dubbed his nap at the beach "the best nap of his life"

Playing at the park

Blowing fluff

Burping Fluffy...just like Caeden! (notice fluffy is also swaddled!)

I'll "see" you back here soon once I get the blog ready!

Micaiah at 18 months

I know every mom probably says this about every age, but I honestly cannot believe that Micaiah is already 18 months old. I love this age! If I can be partial, I really do think this one of my favorites. There is so much that I could write about our sweet boy, but these are the main things that I want to remember when he is 18 years old. :)

We went to see Dr. Foushee this morning. Micaiah weighs 22 pounds and is 31 inches tall. He got 2 shots to finish up all of his baby shots. No more until he’s 4! We talked about vegetables, potty training, vocabulary, and baby Caeden.

Micaiah, you are spunky, silly, and very much a boy. Almost every night your daddy and I have to review the funny things you did that day because you keep us smiling and bring us so much joy. We love to see how God is working in your life and teaching you about Himself. You are learning to obey mama and daddy "right away, all the way, and with a happy heart!" When asked who wants you to obey, you will respond "God." And when asked what God wants you to do you will say, "bey" for "obey." You like to review the rules, which usually means you do the thing you’re not supposed to do in order to tell yourself that you’re not supposed to do it. Sometimes you will tell yourself "thank you" when mama or daddy asks you to do something. You are too cute.

Your baby brother was born this month. It took you a few days to get used to having him around, but now you love him. You call him "c c c" (just a hard c sound) and say and sign "baby" whenever you think about him. You like to check on him in the monitor, and you love to help with him. You enjoy watching me change his diaper and his clothes, and you like to try to give him his pacifier or share your toys with him.

Favorite toys: cars, Freckles the dog, stacking cups, popper, old vitamin bottles with coins inside to shake, hammer, wagon, and the car you can ride with the phone. You also love the moon, airplanes, and flashlights. Of course, G is still your very favorite toy around. He is required to stay in your bed, but you accept that. You started off this month calling him a drawn out ‘th’ sound, "tttthhhh." You ended the month changing how you say his name. You now call him "dee."

You are learning so much these days. We love to hear you try to say new words. For most words you say only one syllable, even saying "ma" and "da" for mama and daddy. You have become almost always successful with identifying most colors. Blue is your favorite. Bu, gee, reh, yeh, wha, lack, puh, and penk. You understand the concept of having two of something. You also understand when there is one more of something. Whenever there is one more shoe to put on or one more block to put in etc, you say "oh moh."

You really, really love to read. Your favorite books these days are The Jolly Barnyard, the Cookie Monster shape book (we’re not really sure what it’s actual title is!), The Little Red Caboose, any Thomas the Train book, Biscuit Goes to School, Duck on a Bike, and Kiss Kiss.

You eat very well, willingly trying anything we ask you to try. Graham crackers, fruit, and ham (you say it with a British accent) are some of your favorites. You also have discovered the pleasure of having something sweet after a meal. You ask for a "coo" (cookie) almost every day after lunch.

We have been working on potty training because you can tell us when you need to go. A froggy potty and a few chocolate chips is all it has taken to get you going.

At 18 months our day usually looks like this:
8:00 wakeup
8:30 breakfast
9:30-10:30 roomtime
11:30 lunch
12:30-3:30 nap
5;30 supper
6:45 bath and pjs
7:30 bed

Our Littlest Buddy

I thought since I hardly ever post to the blog, I may as well use my spare time now to do a post. Ha!

Our littlest buddy, Caeden Elijah, entered the world March 31. We are so excited to finally, and officially, be a family of four.

I went into active labor around 1:30 Thursday afternoon. Scott and I were on our way out to eat lunch. I had been having tons of false labor in the days and weeks preceeding, and at this point I wasn't sure today would be any different. However as we were eating I noticed the contractions were beginning to feel "different." I mentioned to Scott that perhaps we should start timing a few. They were coming every 5 minutes. By the end of lunch, they had moved to every 3 minutes.

We went home, and I decided to do the "lay-down-and-see-if-the-contractions-go-away" test. They didn't. After some time Scott suggested I should take a shower to distract myself and get ready just in case this really, really was the real thing (I still doubted in the back of my mind). Something about the shower kicked things up a notch because then the contractions were getting much harder. We got to the hospital around 5:00, and by the time someone came into the room to check me about 45 minutes later, I was already 8-9 cm dialated. My wonderful midwife arrived about 45 minutes after that at which point I was STILL only 8-9 cm. She broke my water which made things much more intense, but it also progressed things. I think my words were, "I really hope this is going to be over soon." A little less than an hour later including 20 minutes of pushing, Caeden was born!

He is perfect, and we left the hospital the next evening because we were both doing so well. I like being a second time parent so much more than a first time parent. Everything is easier. There is so much less stress than I had the first time around. Caeden is nursing like a champ and sleeping pretty much all the time. :)

It took Micaiah a day or two to warm up to him, but now he is getting much more used to having a baby brother around now. He will frequently sign "baby" and ask to see him. He says his name with a repeated hard "c" sound. He will prance into Caeden's room saying "c c c c" and try to look in the crib for him. It is just precious.

March update

So it has been awhile since I've posted anything. Blogging takes more time than I thought it would. Nonetheless we're all still here, alive, and well....and very pregnant! I am 38 weeks and ready to deliver at any time. I take comfort in the fact that no woman has been pregnant forever and that when God says it's time and Caeden is ready, I will indeed go into labor! I do not remember being this eager with Micaiah. I was still teaching though, and I think that gave me much more to focus my thoughts on during the day rather than analyzing every contraction and twinge I feel (and I have been having a LOT of contractions, just nothing that's going to get the job done!).

I have been purposefully enjoying these last weeks/days with Micaiah as our only child. I am reminding myself to enjoy reading Duck on a Bike or Biscuit Goes to School 10 thousand times a day or sitting on top of the toybox watching cars drive by out the window for what seems like forever. Or having the luxury to sit with him at the table while he finishes eating after everyone else is long since done (he's a slow and conversational eater!). I know our world is about to change, and I'm trying to remember to soak all of this in.

Scott has been settling into his new job at the YMCA. Right now he is just working as "floor staff." Once he has gotten used to the lay of the land he will do that in conjunction with Wellness Coaching for members. Then, when he is finished with his personal training certification in a few months, which he is diligently studying for, he will m0ve to a full time personal trainer and wellness coach position with minimal floor staff hours. He is enjoying it for the most part. He will really enjoy it as he gets to the personal training aspect of it. The job is something that we feel will jive well with our desires to "do church" differently in Augusta. We're thankful for God's provision.

We're still waiting for our Glen Circle house to sell. 8+ months on the market and not a single offer has come through. It kind of feels like we're doing something wrong. But Gwinnett is just a bad area in which to be selling an older home. You can get much more and newer house for less money, so the older homes, especially the updated, move-in-ready homes, are not selling as quickly. Grrrrrr..... Until then, we will continue to live in our little upstairs apartment with Scott's parents.

As far as church in Augusta....that's what we moved here for, it's been 4 months, and there isn't anything to show for it. Frustrating at times, but we're confident in God's plan. There are some things that need to happen before we can launch a house church, and when they do, we'll be launching. We had been praying about an opportunity for Scott to attend what is called a Greenhouse Conference. They are lead by authors we've read and loved. It is all about planting simple, organic church movements in your area. For months, there haven't been any options at a time that would be feasible or realatively nearby (i.e. Singapore). A few weeks ago, upon checking once again, Scott saw that there has been a conference planned for June in Orlando. Unlike Singapore, Orlando is doable! We're planning to take a family trip there in June for Scott to go. I wish I could attend all of the sessions with him as it sounds amazing. We can't wait. I personally think it will be instrumental in aiding us in our mission here in Augusta.

At nearly 18 months, Micaiah is just the cutest thing ever. He loves to read, play outside for as long as you'll let him, watch Cookie Monster, play chase with his daddy, look for birds and cars out the window, and pull up a chair to 'wah' (which means 'watch') me and help in the kitchen. I love how he chooses the most random things to play with: a wide-toothed comb, a little bag of travel sized lotions, an empty Ball canning jar with a plastic spoon, or a toothpaste box. These are his go-to items that he plays with when we play upstairs in our little "apartment." He brings constant smiles to our faces. Just this past week we decided to drop Micaiah's morning nap. I wanted to postpone the transition for as long as possible 1)because I know the transition can be rough for a lot of babies if done too early and 2)in the hopes that he would still have 2 naps when Caeden was born. However it became glaringly obvious over the last few weeks that he was ready. And he's done great. He sleeps from 12-3 and gets an early bedtime until he adjusts to the new schedule and is able to push the nap later into the day by another hour or so. Another thing that makes us laugh is how he is not allowed to play with his beloved "G" downstairs, so when he thinks about him throughout the day, he likes to review where he is I guess to make himself feel better. So, usually several times an hour, he gets my attention to tell me that G is in his bed. Then he smiles and goes about his business. It's rather cute to me. I could update all day about the current cute things he does, but I'll stop here. Leave it to a mama to jabber on and on about her kiddos.

I went to see Amanda (my midwife) this morning. Actually I saw her student midwife who I really like and hope is able to be at Caeden's birth. Things are going great still. As a midwife, she doesn't do as many cervical checks as a typical OB does. However I was curious what my body has been doing the last couple of weeks, so I actually asked for an exam. I know they can give you false hope and likewise false discouragement, so I just take it with a grain of salt. I was merely curious. I am 2-3 cm dialated and thinning and softening just like I'm supposed to. Caeden's head is right where it's supposed to be too, so we're just waiting. Until then, I will continue to remind myself that "As for God, his way is perfect" (Ps. 18:3).

I'm not as good as updating this blog as I hoped I would be. Sorry about that!

Our 16 month old doesn't have much hair, but this is proof that it is indeed growing. Check out this nap hair...

Come on spring!

Today there was a ton of sunshine and a glimmer of warmth, so Micaiah and I headed to the park. I have been waiting and waiting for both him to be able to walk and it to be warm enough to have fun at a park. Today those two finally matched up!

He fixated on pieces of trash that he wanted to help clean up and give to mommy like we do at home. Ew!
He looked for birds

Played in the water

And swung on the swing (is 'swung' even a word???)

He L.O.V.E.S being outside!