a special day

Yesterday was a special day for us. Yesterday was Lily's dedication ceremony and celebration. As parents Jimmy and I want nothing more for Lily than for her to love Jesus with her whole heart and to be raised in a Christ centered home. He and I believe that as individuals we would fail miserably as parents but with God and the support of our family and friends we will not fail and God promises that He will fill in the gaps where we fall short. Yesterday Pastor Ed said something that really stuck, he said "our children are the most valuable thing the Lord gives us and today you are choosing to give them back to Him." That is exactly what yesterday meant to us.

In preparation for yesterday our church has you go through a little "Faith at Home" class. During the class they share statistics about how much time in days and hours you have with your child before they leave your home (that is if they leave when they are 18 :)) vs how much time they spend with friends, at school, in activities, at the church, etc. and it was truly unbelievable how little time you really have. The idea was that you need to spend that time wisely and teach them from an early age the things you want them to believe and know as truths. So they had us write down what those beliefs and truths were that we wanted them to take with them when they leave us. The things Jimmy and I wrote were:

• That Jesus loves you and is always there for you.
• That we love you and are always there for you.
• That you need to always be kind, humble, respectful and honest and to live with integrity.
• That we are proud of you.

On the other side of that card they asked us to write a short letter to Lily about why we chose to dedicate her and what it means to us. We wrote:
Lily May - we love you and are choosing to dedicate you today because we committ to raising you in a Christian home. We want you to always know that Jesus loves you. We committ that our family will be centered on our faith and hope you will see and understand the importance and can apply that to your life one day too. We love you!

The then they had us choose 1 of 4 verses as our blessing to our child. When choosing the Bible verse we were promising to pray this blessing over our child every day. The blessing we chose is:
"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:14,16

Then all of this went into a frame. The blessing is what is showing and the card with the beliefs and our letter is slid in the back. I thought this was such a neat idea and something that Lily will hopefully always keep with her to remember this special day.

Our promise to her is that she will grow up in a home surronded in our love but also the love of Christ, and our hope for her is that someday she will choose to love Christ on her own.

The card I wrote to Lily sums up my thoughts on the day for her and my committment as her parent. Obviously she can't read this today but someday she will read these words and understand the importance of this committment we made to her. I wrote:
Lily May - Today your dad and I dedicate you to the Lord. Today we declare that we will teach you about Jesus and that you will be raised in a home centered on our faith in Him. We love you so very much and can't imagine anyone loving you more but the Bible tells us that God does. May you grow to know Jesus and love Him just like we do - that is our daily prayer for your life precious girl. As your parens we promise to pray for you daily and love you unconditionally. I love you!

Being a parent changes your heart in so many ways. As I looked at the love surronding Lily yesterday I was so blown away. Some people don't have anyone they can count on for support in raising their child and we have so so many people in our lives that love us and love Lily. She is one blessed little girl and we are so very thankful for the blessing of her and the grace of God in choosing us to be her parents!

in her special outfit ready to go - this is the dress my sister's and i all wore when we were baptized, the braclet jimmy and i bought her for the day, and the blanket was made by her great grandma smedley

checking out mom's bag

us with pastor ed

blurry but the only pic we got of us all on stage

pastor ed & lily

playing with daddy

great grandma davis

great grandpa and grandma smedley

great grandpa and grandma dieken

Silly me forgot to take pictures of her with grandparents and her aunts and uncles that made it!

pinterest

My new obsession is pinterest. Do you have it? Seriously amazing. I had heard the buzz about it but wasn't sure what it was all about until I was in Springfield and staying with a friend who has it and showed me how to use it. There is some seriously fun ideas on there from style to DIY projects to foods to try - and I love them all! 

I've only been on pinterest for a little over a week and already tackled 3 little projects that I found on there. So I thought I would share them with you.

#1 Paper towel holder as a braclet stand - how clever and simple! I don't know how you organized your braclets but before this I had them piled in a basket and would have to sort through them every time I wanted to wear one. Hence why I wear a watch every day and a braclet maybe 50% of the time. So easy and handy.

#2 Ribbon organization ideas. Since I make hair bows I have lots of ribbon. Before finding these ideas I had my ribbon semi organized in wicker baskets but whenever i needed to find one it was always a tangle of other ribbon and rarely would I be able to keep it neat. Now look at it! Using a pants hanger that cost about 5 bucks and a few cheap storage containers - maybe 10 bucks total I have a much more organized ribbon collection. Not to mention how easy it will be to dispense the ribbon when I need it - love it!

#3 Homemade baby wipes. I hadn't really ever thought of making our own baby wipes honestly and the verdict is still out on whether or not I like them but I think it's a great idea and so easy! I took step by step pictures but you cut a paper towel roll in half, place 2 cups of water, 2 tbsp baby wash and 1 tbsp of baby oil in a container, mix it up, place your half roll in the container with the solution, turn it upside down to let the solution absorb into the paper towels, then remove the cardboard center of the paper towl roll to have it dispensable - and that's it! To me the wipes seem a little too wet and Lily's bum has seemed a little red since I started using them a few days ago so I'm not quite sure if I like them yet but I think it's a great idea and would love to continue using them if I make a few modifications.

cut paper towel roll and container

baby wash, baby oil and water solution

papertowel in solution

tip over to let absorb

take out center to create dispenser

So there's my pinterest projects thus far, I have a long to-do list and wish list compiling itself on my pinterest boards that I can't wait to dig into. I'll keep you updated on future projects. In fact, we are using a "Merry Christmas" banner for our family pictures this afternoon that I made after seeing an inspiring photo on pinterest. Fun stuff!

peek a boo

I've mentioned before that Lily has been playing peek a boo and that I hadn't been able to catch it on video yet...until yesterday - she started playing with me while we were just hanging out watching TV. Enjoy! :)

road trippin

Lily and I have been roading tripping this past week.
Last Saturday we hit the road to Des Moines for my first post pregnancy race - the Des Moines half marathon! The race was last Sunday and it went well, for the most part. I think I mentioned in a few posts throughout my training how different this training was for me. Post baby body running is much different than pre :) But running this race was a goal I set for myself as soon as I got pregnant. I was actually registered to run it last year when I found out I was pregnant so was unable to run it, last year was my first year in 6 years that I hadn't done a half or full marathon so I was determined to run it this year - even though Lily would only be 5 months old! I squeezed my training in when I was able - lots of time that meant running with the stroller, finding someone to watch Lily, or Jimmy juggling his schedule to be home with her. But I am so glad I did it - I proved to myself that I could get back in shape quickly and running is such a passion of mine it was good to be back at it. Now I'd be lying if I said I wasn't glad it was over :) But that's how I am after every race - ready for a running break. So -- that was our weekend last weekend. Saturday hanging in Des Moines and Sunday was race day.

race expo

rebecca meyer from biggest loser

mom & dad

lily trying on some shades

lily & grandma

We stayed the night at my sister's on Sunday after the race because Jimmy was flying out for another work trip to Mexico and I was heading to Springfield for meetings for the week. So we both hit the road again early on Monday.

Monday afternoon I arrived in Springfield at our friends place where I was staying, enjoyed a nice dinner with some good friends, and then crashed before having to head to the office for the next few days. I joked with my boss that I had to re-evaluate my work wardrobe as I hadn't had to dress up for office days in a while:) My friend Korey watched Lily while I worked. It was strange being away from her all day but she did great and it made me very thankful that I don't have to do that every day! It again reassured me that part time is such a good fit for me right now.

Tuesday night I met up with my good friend Erica's mom and cousin whom I got to know well and spend some time with while we lived in Springfield. Again, it was fun seeing friends and catching up. They couldn't believe how much Lily had grown and of course showered her with plenty of kisses!

Wednesday was another day of work and a lively dinner with our good friends again and their kiddos. Check out our chubby white baby in this pic - hilarious! We miss our dinner night with these guys and hope they can make the trek to Iowa to see us sometime!

lily & elle

cade, parker, bryn, elle & lily - all our friends kiddos

Then Thursday Lily and I packed up and hit the road back to IA. Lily did pretty good traveling. This was my first time driving this far with her by myself. Generally speaking she does ok but every once in a while she just doesn't want to be in that carseat and she lets you know it so I was a little nervous. But both times I left about nap time so she slept for a few hours and then we just made a few additional stops after that. Thursday night we stopped in Des Moines and stayed at my sisters again.

lily sucking on some melon

happy girl even though she gets carted all over the place!

Friday we ran some errands, did a little work and email catch up, then had dinner and a movie night with my best friend Katie, her little one Harper, and my sister and brother in law. Then Saturday it was up bright and early to join a group in support of Katie's mom's fight again breast cancer. The Susan Komen Race for a Cure was in Des Moines this weekend so we did that yesterday. What a neat event - I hadn't done this race before and it was fun to see all the people all decked out in pink and supporting such a good cause! I was glad we could partcipate and support Pat - Katie is such a special person in my life and I know she would do the same for me if cancer was something my family was dealing with!

lily & harper - lily kept putting her fingers in harper's mouth and harper would just suck them :)

susan komen race - start line

all the people

Then Saturday afternoon we hit the road back to Cedar Falls - pit stop at my parents and now home sweet home. I must say as much as I like to travel I love coming home to my own house. The smell when you walk in, your own comfy bed, clean clothes in the washer, and your own shower - there's nothing like it, is there?!

So that's where we've been this past week hence the blogging break - just too busy! But I should be right back on track this week as we get back into the swing of things - hope you had a great weekend too!

bows

If you haven't done so before you should head over and check out my bow blog! I started making hairbows and bow hangers about a year ago and have had so much fun doing it. I have made almost all Lily's bows for her and have had the pleasure of making them for several other kiddos as well.

If you have a daughter, a niece, granddaughter, friend, kid you babysit, whatever - you should check them out! Great for gifts and the upcoming holidays!

http://jennasbows.blogspot.com/
There's my own plug for the year :)

And just a few teaser pics to entice you enough to check it out!

painting

This afternoon I painted pumpkins and a canvas.

Here's the pumpkins.

sparkly trick or treat

LGM - Lily's monogram

on our steps

I also finally did the canvas that I mentioned in a previous blog. Remember this picture?

And here's my version. I decided to use a mustard color instead of the orange because of the other colors in our house. I have the perfect spot picked out and it will be up on the wall as soon as it dries :)

5 months

Today Lily May is 5 months old.


I feel like she has changed so much between the 4 and 5 month mark. She's becoming so much more active and talkative and for some reason I feel like once this little girl starts moving she's going to be a handful. When you hold her in your arms now or sit her on the floor she immediately leans as far forward as she can possible bend herself. New things for her this month are; blowing spit bubbles, "yelling" because she likes the sound of her voice, giving "kisses" - she opens her mouth really big and once it's all good and slobbery she shakes her head back and forth really quick across your face, she has gotten really attached to her mommy this month - so much so that at night I am the only one that can calm her down if she's upset, peek-a-boo - if you put a blanket over her face and say "peek" she will pull it down really quick and she has pulled the blanket over her face a few times too - I am still trying to catch this one on tape, interested in food - no matter what you have to eat or drink she wants it - we have not started any food with her yet but plan to next month, I think she will like it:), rolling from her back to her stomach - she was going the other way before but now can do both!, her first hike and long road trip - we drove out to Denver, CO this month and she was a trooper, all 12 hours! and while we were out there we took her on her first hike in the mountains - it was a bit chilly and rainy but she loved looking at all the trees, she also had her first cold and fever this month - that Nose Fridda sure came in handy - thanks Alli!


She has finally started to slow down on her weight gain a bit:) She weighs 18lbs 15oz compared to 17lbs 8oz at her 4 month weigh in. And she's getting taller - 27 inches this month compared to 24.5 inches last month.


I just packed away her 3-6 month clothes and all 3 month clothes. So she is wearing 6M, 6-9M, and some 9M stuff.


Up until the last few weeks she had been sleeping great. I don't know if it's her cold, teething, or just time for a change but she's been a little stinker about both her naptime and bedtime. Jimmy was gone traveling for a few weeks so I caved and let her sleep with me a few nights - maybe that's the problem! Regardless, I am hoping we get this straightened out real soon because it's hard on us all!
Lily May,
You continue to make mommy and daddy smile and feel so incredibly blessed every single day. You are such a happy happy baby - your little laugh and smile is so precious. What did we ever do without you?! It's so fun to just watch you play and discover the world around you - you are a very curious little one. We are so so blessed to be your parents and love you more than you will ever know baby girl! We love you!