An Epic Morning. And Week. And Month.

So, this morning Cruz decides to be crazy. Not unlike many other mornings, but for some reason, it was harder for me to handle today. Maybe it's because I haven't gotten a full nights sleep in a month. Or because my mind is running ten million miles a minute, thinking of how in the world I'm going to finish 7 papers in two weeks. Or because I haven't cleaned my house in two weeks (which is a huge deal to me), due to all of my free (non-Cruz time) being devoted to writing 15 stupid papers. Or because last night I realized how stressed my husband has been and that I've actually been increasing that instead of helping him out. Or because I had to clean out the nastiest cloth diaper I'd ever seen come out of my poor child, or any other child for that matter...I was definitely wishing this morning we used disposable diapers. Or the fact that we are leaving on Saturday to probably find out exactly where and when we'll be heading to Africa - so huge! Or because I've been eating terrible because all my little baby inside of me wants to eat is Doritos and Big Macs...and the occasional strawberry. Or because this morning Cruz again decides to wake up at 6 am as opposed to his used to be normal 7:30. However, as I was driving to Chickfila at 6:30 this morning - one to get out of the house and prevent a whiny baby (I'm not quite sure why he keeps insisting on waking up at 6, because he hates his life for the first hour) and two to satisfy baby number two who really wanted hash browns and a Dr. Pepper - I realized just how worth it mornings and weeks and months like we've had recently are. I was driving along the interstate, watching the sun rise and listening to my baby boy chatter away in the back (point me for using the trip as a distraction today), listening to praise music. I understood at that moment Jesus wanted me to seek out His company, for just a moment, today. He always wants me to seek Him out, but lately I've been distracted by the crazy poo, a crazy boy who doesn't like to sleep, but mainly my own agenda and selfishness. He used Cruz's crazy schedule, my hormones and lack of sleep, and even my frustration to get me again to a point of surrender and stillness. All I could do while driving the car was be still and listen to the word spoken through song. And it was worth it. All we need sometimes is a little perspective. And a lot of Jesus.

March 31, 2007

...was one of the best days of my life! On Saturday March 31, 2007, I married my best friend and have been trying to figure out how I can possibly love him more and more everyday...but it happens! I remember telling one of my friends who was getting married after me what marriage was like and describing it as getting to have a sleepover every night with your bff, and thats really how I felt then and still feel now...don't get me wrong, some nights our sleepovers are not as fun and for those of you who know us, know we argue as excellent as we love:) BUT, when the day is done, I know I have a husband who loves me, loves the Lord, and loves our son and would do anything for us.

We were talking the other night about our marriage, things we loved and things we needed to work on (always a good idea, theres nothing wrong with a little evaluation! :)) and we were both just in awe of where we are now....what we've been through the past four years, all of the changes and ups and downs, the adventures we've been on and the dreams we've seen realized...and let go. We've had a crazy, amazing, incredible ride - in four years we: got MARRIED, moved down to New Orleans, started grad school, went to Israel, both started two jobs (several different times lol), met lifelong friends, went to Africa, started the application process for a mission organization, ended the application with a mission organization. searched FOREVER for the right mission organization, finally applied with the right mission organization:), saw many friends move all across the country, had a BABY, and the list goes on and on....

I love our life, and even amidst the hard times, I wouldn't trade it for anything...God made Adam just right for me, and gave me His precious gift just at the right time. He is the best man, husband, and father I have ever known, and I can't WAIT to see what the next 79 years have for us:)

...and yes, I posted this a day early because tomorrow is our anniversary so I'll be busy:)

Willard, party of FOUR, your table is ready...

Will we ever get used to hearing those words?? I think not. At least not anytime soon. I guess right now we would just hear, "Two adults and two highchairs?" That's right, TWO highchairs. It's official, Adam and I went to the doctor on Thursday and baby number two is due October 16, 2011! The baby is healthy, I'm healthy, and we made sure there was only one heartbeat in there - Adam was convinced for a little while we were having twins...after all, God does have a sense of humor. But, only one little precious baby playin away for a few more months in my belly! We are super excited and very blessed...to be honest, I keep waiting to feel overwhelmed or upset or scared to death, but so far it hasn't happened. Every once in awhile when Cruz is super hyper and jumping all over the place, I wonder what exactly we got ourselves in to, but even then all I can do is laugh at our sweet bubbly boy and imagine our crazy life in about 7 months. Just to clarify, I'm sure a lot of you are wondering, we weren't planning to be pregnant again this early, but sometimes God has other plans...we were actually about to start the process to adopt a child domestically, or begin planning have another baby by next spring, but our baby didn't want to wait that long - he or she was determined to meet us before all the holiday madness this year:) And another question we've been getting often since we started to broadcast the news - our plans for Africa haven't changed. We figure until we hear otherwise from the Lord, He wants us to follow His originial plan. He gave us another baby, and He is more than able to give us the strength and wisdom to move continents with two little babies:) And Cruz is definitely excited about his baby brother or sister...every time we mention something about the new baby, he grins ear to ear. He's going to be the best big brother! So, ready or not, we are now (at least soon to be) a party of four!

Throw me somethin, Mista!

I thought this picture would sum up our 2011 Mardi Gras season perfectly...Cruz's face is priceless! Needless to say, our Mardi Gras had a much different feel this year since we had a baby in the picture...one of those moments, and yes, even though Cruz is 6 months old I still have them, where I wonder if I'm really in charge of a child - 24/7. Love love love our little fireball, but having him is still a reality check sometimes...everyone needs a good dose of reality every once in awhile!

We made it to one day/night of parades, although Cruz didn't last as long as we hoped...I'm not sure why we thought he would, our son loves to be in the middle of EVERYTHING so of course there was no chance of sleep in the midst of all those lights and sounds! He loved it though, especially at the beginning...and he actually scored some great stuff! Cruz finally landed us some big beads (which Adam and I have been trying to get for years), a spear, some stuffed animals, and other stuff. All in all, it was a great day and everyone had fun...until actual Fat Tuesday, while we were snuggled up at home watching the parades in the rain and eating king cake - I realized this might be our last Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Super sad realization, and I didn't like it. I already asked Adam if we could come back next year since we'll be in the States, so don't be surprised if we show up on your doorstep! Love this city and all it has meant to us the past few years...saying goodbye will be so hard.

New York, New York!

Well, we finally finished our psychological surveys for AIM and thus basically completed our application process to go overseas! FINALLY! yay! Our tests will of course most likely tell the company we're both crazy, but its ok, they're finished! We are so so so excited to have this part of our journey behind us, we are one step closer to our final destination...it has been a slow crawl, but every inch has been worth it.

As soon as we got the word we were invited to candidate week in New York, where we will be placed in a country and job in Africa, we started looking up plane tickets...and finally purchased them early this week! We'll be gone April 16-23, and we're heading up a week early to get a mini-vacation in...see some sites, maybe rest a little, and take Cruz to his first out of the womb (we went to a Rangers game when I was pregnant) professional baseball game. We're ready...ready to fly, ready to get away, ready to hear where the Lord will have us placed for the next few years at least...just ready. Cruz is coming with us, so it'll be a family affair - we're so excited that he is only 6 months old and already seeing so much of the country. Hopefully he'll catch the travel bug like we have or else he'll have a long long childhood full of airports he doesn't really appreciate...I have a feeling our happy man will enjoy wherever he is in the moment - he is so full of life and love with whoever he meets and wherever he is already, I'm just stoked to watch God grow his little vibrant personality.

We'll start talking to some people soon about different jobs we may feel lead to take, and then officially get word that week in April, so we'll keep you posted!

Baby things I've become addicted to, er, i mean love...a lot.

Ok, so I'm not gonna lie, one of our favorite things about preparing for Cruz's arrival last year was all of the cool baby stuff you get to buy - totally wish some of Cruz's toys were our size. What adult wouldn't want to be pushed around in a stroller or have a super comfy massive bumbo seat to sit in?? However, out of all of Cruz's things, I have unfortunately come down with several addictions...both of which I never thought I would like, much less love, because I thought they took too much work, effort and my precious time. Not the case; I have actually found the opposite. My two new loves actually save us money, and really don't waste any more time or effort. So here it goes: I am totally and completely in love with making baby food and cloth diapers!

*Note: If anyone chooses not to cloth diaper or make their baby's food, this is not a knock on you! To each his own! Just sharing my love and addiction!

Baby Food:

I was terrified of making baby food. One, most people know I am not super detailed so I was scared I would do something wrong and eventually kill Cruz because I am unable to read and follow a recipe correctly (although I love to cook - going by a recipe is not as crucial for adults because we can eat whatever we want:)). Two, I didn't get the point - people make their living creating and making baby food FOR us, all put together already in little jars...if you want organic, buy organic jar food (which I am a big fan of feeding your baby - and adults! - organic foods if at all possible). WRONG! I have learned over the past couple of weeks (yes, we're new to this, because Cruz just made five months at the beginning of February) that making baby is not difficult, I don't need to follow a recipe (just a couple of safety rules), and it saves so so so much money rather than buying jarred food!

I've made Cruz several things already, and frozen most of it: sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, mango, carrots, bananas, avocado, etc. The great thing is that you can make a ton of food one day a week, or every few weeks, and freeze the food in one or two ounce ice cube trays and thaw for each meal! Or for simple foods, such as bananas or avocados, you can mash those up with a fork and serve right away. The one thing I am kind of funny about is waiting a few days in between feeding Cruz new foods to check for allergies - after his milk protein allergy or lactose intolerance (whichever it is) I'm pretty nervous about allergies.

Two appliances I love and help me IMMENSELY to make Cruz's food: a great food processor and a steamer. Thank you, thank you, thank you Mama Joyce and Poppy for our food processor! It makes the process super fast and easy, and all we have to do is wash the base and chopper blades after we're done. We also got a small steamer for the microwave, or you can steam on the stovetop...so easy for other veggies and fruits that need to be softened. I've read microwaving your baby's food isn't the best way to go, but for a quick meal, I don't think theres anything wrong with that!

Cloth Diapers:

We waited until Cruz was about 1 1/2 months before putting him in cloth diapers full time...he used to have super skinny legs and we were worried about leaks:) I had no idea what I was doing, so before he was born, I ordered several types of cloth diapers: all in ones, pocket diapers, hybrid diapers, prefolds, covers, etc. We haven't tried every brand (i wish!) by far, but we've tried most of the "types" of diapers. And actually love them all. I really haven't found a favorite yet, although we have found a few brands that don't work for Cruz...sadly, our Fuzzibunz have never been Cruz's friend for more than an hour or so - for some reason, these ALWAYS leak with our super heavy wetter. We have found cloth diapers to be economical, just as fast and easy as disposables, and cute!

A few essentials:

Everyone has their preferences, these are my cloth diaper must-haves:

A poop sprayer. Totally worth the money in my opinion. We don't have any stains on our cloth diapers after four months of use thanks to the sprayer...we also, thanks to Adam, found a similar contraption at Lowes for $20 to hook up to the shower and spray the diapers off in the toilet, instead of spending an extra $50 or $60 on a brand name sprayer specifically for diapers.

Doublers/liners/etc. As stated above, Cruz is a heavy wetter. And I mean HEAVY. The boy will go through four diapers while at Mothers Day Out (which is 5 hours long). We use doublers (an extra layer of cotton, hemp, bamboo, etc. to catch wetness) with almost every diaper. Also, one of our friends is the biodegradable disposable liners - put one of those in a diaper and it'll catch the poo! We don't have to use our sprayer too much if we use the liners.

One Size Diapers. Enough said. I definitely believe they're the most economical way to do cloth diapers because the diapers will fit your baby from newborn size - potty train size. We're a huge fan of these, and there are also some cheaper covers out there that have worked well with Cruz. We love Econobum one size and Flip one size covers. This way, if you can't afford to buy all all in one diapers or pocket diapers ($15-20 per diaper unless you buy in bulk) you can use prefolds and covers (which are much cheaper, usually $8-11 per cover) and still have your baby wear diapers through their diaper wearing years. Also, if you use one size diapers, you can use the same diapers for multiple children no matter their size - we'll let y'all know how this goes in about 9 or 10 months!

So, thats a little bit about my two new obsessions, baby food making and cloth diapers. I do not know much about either one, but we're learning as we go...as we do with everything else! Thanks for humoring me - if anyone has any comments or tips about making baby food or cloth diapering, feel free to share!

http://www.youtube.com/user/upsidedownblogger?feature=mhum

This is the link to our youtube channel where we start to upload some of our videos. Most of them will probably be stupid and pointless, but oh well.