28 years

Today is Jimmy's 28th birthday.


Happy Birthday my love!


You are more than I ever prayed for, you truly are my best friend - the kind of friend you always want to be around whether it's off doing something crazy or cuddled up on the couch, you are loyal, honest, trustworthy, Godly, hardworking, compassionate, and so much more. You are my soul mate and I thank God every single day for trusting me to be your life partner.


You are a wonderful father to our baby girl - I know you will teach her what's important in life, to love Jesus, to be kind to others, to appreciate and (maybe) love the outdoors like you:), to be a friend, be honest, and to just be herself.


You love me unconditional and in a way I never knew I could be loved.


Everthing won't always be perfect but I know you are always and will always be there beside me and we will conquer any and everything together, as a family.


I love you more than words could ever express and am so thankful for you.
Happy Birthday baby!

defined

I read this on another blog I read this morning and just thought it was too wonderful not to pass along. Lately too many of these "measureables" have consumed my thoughts and these verses really remind us what we are here for, who we belong to, and what really matters - none of it!

Enjoy your Thursday!

We are not defined by the value of our house, whether wonderfully high or shockingly low.

God defines us as valuable because of our heart.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and

where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,

where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

{Matthew 6:19-21}

We are not defined by the tag on our pants, whether the pants are getting a bit snug or we have room to spare.

God defines us as beautiful.

For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body.

{Psalm 139:13-16}

We are not defined by the number of kids we have, whether our home is full or our womb continues to remain empty.  

God defines us as fulfilled by His love.

And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment

of what had been spoken to her by the Lord. 

{Luke 1:45}

We are not defined by a title or our job, whether it's as esteemed as can be or we feel we deserve more.  

God defines us as purposeful to Him.

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,

which God prepared in advance for us to do.

{Ephesians 2:10}

We are not defined by our ring finger, whether a ring has been placed on it or our hearts are desperately yearning for one to be.
 
God defines us as His bride.

For the wedding of the Lamb has come,

and His bride has made herself ready.

{Revelations 19:7}

We are not defined by the number in our bank accounts, whether it's satisfactory and secure or our stomach drops at the sight of it.

God defines us as rich in His blessings.

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty,

nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God,

who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

{1 Timothy 6:17}

We are not defined by the color of our hair or skin, the height and weight of our bodies, whether dark or light, tall or short, big or small.  

God defines us as made in His image.

The LORD does not look at the things man looks at.

Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.

{1 Samuel 16:7}

the upstairs

More house pictures today. All except 1 of the 5 bedrooms are upstairs in this house. The stairs have taken some getting used to since I was so accustom to our ranch style house in Springfield but they are growing on me. Something about Iowa just seems like you have to have an upstairs and a basement:) And I will say for having small child(ren) I do like this set up - having them right down the hall opposed to on the other side of the house is nice. But main floor laundry and carrying baskets up and down the steps with a baby is a pain in the neck.

Another great thing about this house is that we didn't have to do any painting other than Lily's room. The colors were neutral enough that they went with everything we had and although they may not be what I would chose, it's a heck of a lot easier to just use what they had. We will see - maybe painting will be a future project:)

Anyways - on to pictures.

lily's room

view over the hallway railing

guest room - right next to lily's

guest bathroom

home office

master bedroom

master bath

1 more week & party planning

Well I promise more house pictures to come but I have an update unrelated to the house for now.

I am in my final week of maternity leave - seriously how can it be that it's already been 12 weeks?! A few weeks ago I made a list of things I was hoping/planning to accomplish while on maternity leave and can proudly say that I have now accomplished (almost) all of them! But this week I have vowed to spend time with my baby. I am allowing myself to hold her during nap time, spend time snuggling her, play with her on her play mat, read her a few extra books every day, and just enjoy her because I am quickly realizing that life just goes too fast. With our move I don't feel like I had a typical maternity leave where I was able to get to the point of being bored or restless, which is great but I also feel like I missed out to some extent. I felt so busy all the time up until just a few weeks ago. So this week I am just slowing down and enjoying my days with Lily. She is so precious and truly such a wonderful and easy baby - we are incredibly blessed! And then next week the hustle and bustle of work will be upon me - ugh! I can't say I'm dreading my return to work because that's not entirely true but I'm not exactly looking forward to it either:) I am incredibly lucky to be going back only part time and working from a home office but still, it's work and it's responsibility.

Another thing on the agenda for this week is to throw a party! It's Jimmy's birthday on Friday so we are having a little get together at our place on Thursday night to honor him. We are having just parents, siblings and grandparents over but that alone makes up 24 people! So I will be busy making food for that in the coming day or so. I was initially planning to grill but quickly remembered how tricky it can get to get things done at the same time when you are serving lots of people. So we are going with lasagna instead - something that's easier for me to make in large batches and mix up ahead of time. I will be sure to take lots of pictures and post later this week. We also are having a birthday date on Friday night that I'm looking forward to - we haven't been out without Lily since we moved into our place so it's time!

main floor

I will slowly but surely get pictures of our new house up on here and today we will start by showing you the main floor.

I love love love the open floor plan of this house's main floor. I love the wood floors, the red furniture, and our rug. We currently spend quite a bit of time on the main floor since our basement furniture has not yet arrived but it's a great place to hangout as a family. Often times Jimmy will play with Lily while I cook dinner and I love that we can all be in the same space. We haven't utilized the back patio area really at all yet because either we've been too busy doing house stuff at night or it's been too darn hot! I still have high hopes for using our fire pit later this summer/early fall to indulge in some smore making!

Also since taking these pictures I have added some pillows to the furniture so they don't look quite as bare:). I paired some great pillows from Urban Outfitters that my sister has and I love with a few from Pier 1 as well. Why the heck are pillows so expensive?!

Anyways - here's your photo tour...next up, the upstairs - hopefully sometime yet this week.

view from the front door

when you look up in the entry way

the entry way

formal dining room

living room

informal eating area

patio

yard view

kitchen

1/2 bath

laundry room

2 month stats

Well we had her 2 month appointment today so I wanted to post her stats for documentation. This was the first time we met her new doctor and he was so great - he spent so much time talking to me and addressing some concerns Jimmy and I had.

Sadly this appointment came with a shot which made me really sad. Most people told me it's harder for me than her and that's probably true but that still doesn't make it any easier to watch. But, we got through it:) - she's just been a little fussier than usual today so fingers crossed she will sleep ok tonight and have no side affects or reactions to the shot.

So here's her stats - she's a healthy growing girl:)
Weight: 13lb 12oz
Height: 22 1/2in

Compared to 2 week appointment of:
Weight: 9lbs 2oz
Height: 20 3/4 in

2 months

Lily is 2 months old today. She is growing like a weed! Literally every day she seems just a little bit bigger to me. Her 2 month check up is tomorrow so I'll be sure to come back and include her stats as well as an update from the doctor.


New things for Lily this month are tons and tons of smiles - she smiled at just a few weeks old but now she does it often and in direct communication to whoever is talking to her. It melts my heart every time:) She is the most happy in the morning after she wakes up. This has become the time when I give her a bath - which I currently do every other day, followed by story time - I have begun reading her 2-3 books every morning, and then getting dressed and ready for the day. She continues to sleep through the night and good throughout the day, although I have noticed she's more of a cat napper during the day rather than actual long and/or good naps. But hey, I'll take that for sleeping through the night any day! We have officially switched to cloth diapers and it's going great. We now have enough to only have to do laundry every other day and that's super nice for me! Other new or first's for Lily has been the pool - I've brought her to the pool a few times and she seems to like it, I was unsure of bringing her at first because she doesn't like baths too much but she must like sitting with mommy:) She has also begun moving her arms and legs lots and lots and making such cute noises! Nicknames we use for her are pumpkin, little monkey, beanie, lily pie, baby girl, and LJ (mema's name for little Jimmy because she looks so much like her daddy:))

Other than that we've just been continuing to settle in this last month and she's been great. She's a very content, laid back little one that pretty easily just goes with the flow.

Sweet Lily,
Once again your Dad and I can't even begin to tell you how much we love you. You make us laugh, smile, and often cry (mommy) every day. You are such a sweet sweet baby girl and we are so thankful you are ours. We pray for you every single day and hope that you will continue to be healthy and strong! We can't wait to watch you continue to grow and learn about the person you will become.
We love you to pieces sweetheart!

Here's some 2 month photos and a video of her little noises - enjoy!

look at those chubby legs!:)

got her sweet smile

hasn't she filled out so much since her 1 month pics?

looks at that belly!

pregnancy weight

Ugh - the dreaded pregnancy weight and the impossible task of getting rid of it is offically upon me! Why is it that so many people just drop their pregnancy weight by breastfeeding and going for a walk every now and then?! I officially despise those people:)!

So I don't want this to come across as a complaining post but I need to just vent about it because it's been a topic on my mind so much lately and quite frankly beginning to consume my thoughts! Please don't think that for one minute I would take back the baby I have as a trade for my old body back because I absolutely wouldn't - let me just vent my thoughts on this consuming topic for a few minutes and then I'll (pretend) I'm over it.

As you may recall I did not look at the scale throughout my pregnancy, because I have dealt with weight issues in the past I didn't want to make my pregnancy about that so therefore, I chose not to look at the scale during my doctor's visits. However, I did want to know what my "final" weight was the day I arrived to deliver, and lets just say it was a lot!:) Now total I only gained about 35-40 lbs but something about seeing that final number was just a shock. So, when I hopped on the scale a few weeks after having Lily and saw I was down 25 lbs from that weight I was pretty excited. However, I'm pretty sure that scale hasn't budged since then!

Now I know weight is just a number but it's not just about that number - I don't feel good about myself right now and I certainly don't like what I see when I look in the mirror or see pictures of myself!

So what to do about it?! As I've mentioned on here I have begun running again and for some reason I figured that would be enough. However, I'm quickly realizing that that may not be the case! Why does it have to be so darn hard for some of us? The funny thing is I know exaclty what I need to do - cut the sweets, watch what I eat a little (or a lot) closer, and add some additional things to my workout, easy right?! I wish!

So people I'm offically getting back on track with strict eating habits and exercise routine -hold me to it. This baby weight (plus some) has got to go!

Why can't we all just look like this? Don't answer that, I already know the answer.

let freedom ring

We spent this 4th of July with family and friends and had a great time! We kicked off the long weekend with a night at home finishing up things that still need done and then headed for the lake!

We went to Twin Lakes with my brother, SIL, and their 2 kiddos, mom, dad, sister and BIL. My brothers friend Eric and his family joined us as well. My brother has a great ski boat and we hauled along the jet ski for a day of fun on the lake. Unfortunately Twin Lakes is a fairly small lake so the water gets rough pretty quickly when you get lots of boats out on it for a busy weekend. So we didn't do much skiing but the jet ski was lots of fun and we went for a couple round of tubing as well. They have a great park right on the lake so we set up camp there for the day and it was a great place to keep all our food and extra stuff, as well as the kiddos to hangout while not on the boat. We all went out in the boat to watch the fireworks on the lake - so pretty! They choregraphy the fireworks to music on a local radio station which makes it really neat. I loved sitting on the boat with our little peanut and being so thankful for all the things we enjoy daily in this country without even thinking twice. Thousands of men and woman have fought for those rights over history and continue to fight for them and we are so blessed to live in this country. I thought of this often while pregnant with Lily - just how fortunate I was to be born here and how fortunate she is too. Truly, have you ever thought about everything we have just because we live in America? I have sponsored a child from Uganda through Compassion International for several years and Milly (my sponsor child) reminds me everytime I receive a letter from her how blessed I am to live in this country!

Watching the fireworks on the boat made for a late drive home - we didn't get back until after 1am but it was worth it!

Then the following day we headed in the other direction to spend the day with Jimmy's family. We enjoyed a grill out at his grandma and grandpa's followed by dinner and hanging out at his parents house. We decided to head home before the fireworks since Jimmy had to work the next day but we had a great view of them from the road on the drive home!

We had a great 4th and even though our little monkey won't remember the fireworks it was fun for us to enjoy it with her - holidays like this just remind me that we have lots and lots to be thankful for!

lily with daddy

looking festive

my sister & i on the jet ski

just chillin

my family:)