Madeleine's seventh month- January

Hey everyone !!

January 12, 2010

January has brought lots of new foods for Madeleine. She ate carrots, zucchini, butternut squash, mushroom ravioli, ground turkey with whole wheat penne and more. I still make all her food and she is nursing 4 times a day. This month she slept like a baby and didn't wake up at night, going right down to sleep around 7:30-8:00pm. She started vocalizing a lot more, though she is not interested in crawling at all. She does not like being on her stomach either. She did start standing fairly well, and we'll see if she skips crawling. A major portion of January was dedicated to a little coastal vacation that I will blog about separately. Other than that, just continuing to grow and be beautiful and precious. All the ladies in the nursery say she is happy and doesn't cause any problems for them on Sundays at church or Thursdays at CBS. Isn't she beautiful?

Love, Lauren

Pizza Night!

YUM YUM YUMMY!!!!

This actually happened on December 31, 2009, but I am trying to get some stuffed blogged here, and timelines just aren't working anymore.

Tim decided it would be fun to make our own pizzas; I agreed!

So we set out for Trader Joe's where we bought dough, tomato paste/sauce, and toppings.

Our pizzas were very unique and personal and they both turned out fabulous (Tim rolls dough better than I do though!)

Tim chose mozzarella with mushrooms and olives on white crust.

I chose mozzarella with crab meat, spinach and feta on whole wheat.

Here are some pics:

Tim rolls out his dough:

He makes a pretty good round:

My pizza is more, ummm......free form! (yea, that sounds good.)

Mommy & baby watch Daddy:

Daddy serves us a slice and Mommy enjoys TJ's festive ale!

Love, Lauren

Days On

When Tim is home, I usually enjoy just following him around like a love-sick puppy. We do everything together and are basically joined at the hip. But, when he is not at home, I usually try to get a lot done. Today was a full and productive day, but some things happened that really made it special.

#1: I used my calendar: Tim bought me a nice planner for 2010 (@Christmas) and I used my Marvy Uchida Le Pen markers to plan today. I usually do this, but since we've been on vacation on the coast, I got back into it today. It's amazing how just making a list of tasks helps keep me from procrastinating or side-tracking. I also took the time to pray over my day and ask God to bless it, or show me ways that He would have me change/augment it.

#2: I faxed paperwork in to save us money on our car insurance, mailed some returns, ordered a chin-up bar on Amazon, did some laundry, cleaned the kitchen, vacuumed the floors, and boxed up MJ's out-grown clothes and did my CBS Bible study. Pretty productive!

#3 I finished my first week of P90X- I was tired today, and almost didn't do it, but I did- and I already have some muscle tone showing. It is HARD though.

#4 Some really sweet things have been happening with Madeleine. She has started SNUGGLING! When she nurses or when I pick her up from a nap, or when we're just sitting together, she nuzzles into my chest and neck and sucks her thumb. It is amazing. She will also wrap her hand around my neck and grasp my hair at the nape of my neck- it is so tender and sweet. Another fun thing happened when I pulled out the seal mobile. On our vaca on the coast, we saw thousands of elephant seals up on the beaches to birth their pups. She was very taken with the yelping and guttural sounds from the seals. At the ranger station in Big Sur, there were these amazing mobiles made by Flensted. Well, the ranger needed to clear out the seals, we really wanted the butterfly one- which sent Madeleine squealing- but we got the seals for only $3.00- usually they retail for ~$35.00. Well, I opened it up today to hang it, and she screamed in delight. It is expertly balanced, simple and modern and I actually like that we have seals because now it reminds us of the trip and the experience of seeing the seals during our wonderful family trip. The third joy with her was dancing to Simon and Garfunkle- we clapped our way through a feeding to Cecilia and then danced and chased the puppies around she was laughing and it is so cute to see those adorable teeth poking through the top and bottom gums. Oh, those teeth are just TOO much!!!! Finally, I'm really amazed at how much we are learning to communicate. Today, I was going to my parents house to do some laundry (our washer is out until Tues.) and she started to fuss when I put her in her carseat. I told her, "Hey, no fussy-fuss, we're going to Nani and Popi's house. Nani and Popi's house." She quieted down and looked at me like she understood where we were going. It was very interesting. The same kinda thing happened when I took her on a hike in our Kid Comfort Pack in the meadow by our house. We were hiking when we saw a song bird, it was in a tree and had a lovely little "tweeeeeeeeeee,twee twee twee twee" call. I tried to find out which bird it was on the internet, but I am no bird person. Anyway, I pointed out the bird in the tree, signing "tree" and she watched it. I sang to it and it sang back. She made a little grunting noise and I did it again. Then the bird flew away and she followed it. This doesn't sound advanced, but she was in the kid pack which makes it hard for her to move her head from side to side and when she followed the bird, I felt her weight shift in the pack. She's definitely making lots of connections using me as the bridge to noticing things. I might point something out, but once she connects to it, she analyzes it and sometimes "talks" to me about it through squeals, shrieks, laughs, grunts or just "aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh". I found myself tearing up as we were dancing to music earlier realizing that one of my greatest joys in the world is being with her. I feel so sorry for the women who can't stay with their babies!! I would never want to be missing out on these sweet, sweet moments. She's growing up too, too fast. And March is fast approaching...*

It was a great day, and now I am going to read my daily reading in Leviticus...so happy I'm keeping up- skip a day and you're reading like 10 chapters =) I am also reading The Art of Racing in the Rain which Tim gave me for Christmas. I am really liking it. I haven't forgotten about my TTB posts, I just haven't made time to do any more. Maybe once things settle down at home, I've just got too much cleaning, decorating, playing to do.

Love, Lauren

*originally, I "planned" a very precise timeline for the next pregnancy. I have a wedding in April 2010 and one in January 2011, so the idea was to get pregnant in March, be able to fit into the dress for '10 wedding, deliver in December and work out hard for the '11 wedding. But then I remembered the reason God lead us to use Natural Family Planning (though we are not Catholic): it's HIS timing, not ours. So, when God leads our family and blesses us with a baby-it'll be the perfect time, and we'll be ready.

Gorgeous

I know ALL kids are cute... But...have you seen our baby lately!?!?!?!

tracydodsonphotography.com

Love, Lauren

MJs Sixth Month: December 2009

Madeleine is growing so quickly, and even as I write this, she is 8 months today!! I am a lot behind on my posting, but I will try to catch up!! I am still reading through the Bible and will do my Leviticus reading tonight- I hope you are all still hanging in there too! In December we were busy with celebrations, as our pictures will attest, but we celebrated Christ's birth most often and His redeeming work in coming to make a way for us to the Father.

Mads cut four teeth in December! She sat up on her own and even started waving (which I just read doesn't usually occur until 8-9 months-who knew!). The wave is adorable and it makes many people coo over her. She also started into solids in earnest. We tried squash, zucchini, beets, carrots, peas, avocado, butternut squash and more.

She moved to a four-hour schedule, nursing and eating at 7, 11, 3, 7 & still dreamfeeding at 10ish.

She has been vocalizing much more and loves the cats.

We attended Riley's Los Rios Ranchos Currier and Ives dance and dinner in early December with lots of friends.

I think the pictures will give you an idea of our month, so enjoy!

Love, Lauren

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Madeleine's fifth month- November

Holy cow- did I not do a posting for month 5?

Okay, I better get on that =)

In November we were very busy! Not only did we celebrate two years of marriage (11-11), but I also turned 29 and we celebrated Thanksgiving, of course.

Madeleine started on solids this month and she had her first taste of sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving. She also managed to cut her first tooth only 1 day shy of 6 months. It made for a very long drive out to Phoenix! Yes, Madeleine visited Auntie Kim and cousins David, Daniel, Hannah & Matthew during November. Hannah loved holding her, and Madeleine loved being held! Hannah babysat almost all day and I wondered if I even had a baby anymore, she was always in someone's arms =). It was a nice reprieve for me, but I did get to missing her often.

She also spent her first night away from us! (gasp!) It was very hard for me to enjoy it, but Tim and I actually spent a night away (locally) and my mom put MJ down for the night at our house and spent the night in our home so MJ could sleep in her own crib. My mom says she was a perfect angel (which comes as no surprise- she is a very easy-going baby) and we had a wonderful night out together. Since Tim worked Thanksgiving (again), I asked that our celebration take place on the 25th; it also happened to be my birthday. We had a delectable ham dinner prepared by my mom and Jared. The food was amazing and I was able to try some white asparagus that my Aunt Sally brought. We also cracked into some of Jared's wine "pantry" (he doesn't have a cellar yet) and the local Rancho Andalusia was awesome. We opened some gifts, and Jared played his guitar at my request. We then had spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting- one of my favorite combos. Tim came home the next day and kindly helped me pull all the Christmas decorations down from the attic, he also helped me put up our enormous tree ( a gift from the Lindsays) and on Monday I did some cyber-Monday online shopping =)

Enjoy the pictures =)

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Love, Lauren

TTB: Genesis 21-24

Standout verse: " Abraham said, 'God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering my son.'" (Genesis 22:8a)

Little Insights:

*Children were usually weaned around 3-4 years old. Sarah nursed Isaac at least until she was 92 years old!

*Abraham was a rich man, yet he does not give Hagar an animal or two to provide travel or pack with food and water.

*Beersheba can be translated "well of seven".

*Abraham's reply of "Hineni!" (Here I am, I am ready) is very powerful and echoes of a child completely focused on their father. Moses and Isaiah both say "Hineni!" to God in response to His call!

*Abraham reveals his faith in God when he claims that they will return after worshipping God. (22:5)

*Although many scholars believe that Isaac is in his teenage years--since he can think analytically and carry a bundle big enough to consume a sacrifice--some believe he could be as old as 30 since the next chapter dates Sarah at 127.

*Isaac is a type of Christ in that he willingly lays down his life to his Father. Even the emphasis of 'only son' (Gen 22:2 & 16) is reminiscent of Christ.

*Sarah had been Abraham's constant companion for a LONG time. His lavish burial and expenses reveal his grief.

*Sarah is one of only two women listed in Hebrews "hall of faith". (Hebrews 11:11)

God's ancient calling of His chosen people to sacrifice is one that American Christians today don't often hear. Too many Christians are enamored with the busyness of the world to listen to God's call to sacrifice. It's deeper than just our pocketbooks, it's a total evaluation of our life and His blessings to His glory. Just like Abraham, we can be rich; but, we need to be rich towards God too! Sacrifice is, of course, not often with our money. Sometimes it's all too easy to simply reach for our checkbook to appease the convictions of the Spirit. For me, I have a hard time giving up my time. This is especially true when commitments or ministries cut into my time with Tim. Now, it is godly for me to be with him as his helpmate, but very often I use that position to avoid serving others for God's glory. Sacrificing of blood is no longer necessary, thanks to Jesus, but obedience to God is, and sometimes that means sacrificing what the world would call "your dream" to serve God for His glory. I pray that as I give up, albeit painfully, those things my heart longs for, that I will see the true blessing in life is following Jesus' heart and not my own.

Just for fun: Make a list in your journal of the top things you absolutely could not live without (people too!), prayerfully surrender those items to God so that should He ask for them you can say, "Hineni" to His will.

Love, Lauren

PS- Re: the picture this entry:

When I was in Florence, I had a chance to see the Caravaggio's Abraham and Isaac at the Uffizi Gallery. The painting absolutely mesmerized me!! This posted copy does not do justice to the real one! I love the sacrificial lamb's pleading eyes and its willingness to take the place of Isaac. It is very beautiful. It makes me think about the sublime wonder of Christ's offering which always makes me cry.