The Musings of a Nerdy Momma

Dear Lily: Today you are Six Months Old!

Jennifer — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:15:12 +0000

Dear Baby Girl,

I can’t believe the time that has gone by. How did you turn six months old? It seems like just yesterday that you were in my belly, not knowing if you were a boy or girl. And then, you were born and were this precious little newborn. I was so happy to find out you were a girl. My Lily Eileen! Then, it was Christmas, followed by six weeks, then three months, then four months, and now six months old! How is this possible?

You are so beautiful! You are the perfect mixture of your daddy and I. You have big beautiful eyes and the best smile. Lily, you are so precious. When you wiggle as I change your clothes or you accidentally get your Rockin’ Elmo playing, it just makes me realize how much I love you. You are the best blessing I could ask for.

Thanks for being my baby girl and happy half birthday to you!

Love,

Mommy

Lessons Learned in the Thick of the OKC Storms

Jennifer — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 05:28:11 +0000

I woke up yesterday morning at three or four to the joyful sound of thunder. I went to the bathroom and noticed that it was raining pretty heavy. For the next couple of hours, I attempted to sleep, but alas, the thunder didn’t allow it. I went to bed late, so I was pretty tired. Lily woke up at seven. Way too early. I wasn’t awake, as I am not a morning person. It continued to rain. I was thinking about going to the gym as the morning progressed, but Mike called me and told me to not go anywhere. Apparently, it took him an hour and a half to get to work.

Around noon, I watched in shock as I saw on the television how high the flood waters were. It was reported that we got 9.5″ of rain in approximately 13 hours. I saw on Facebook pictures of people riding jet skis and boats up and down the flood planes trying to perform rescue operations. Crazy, huh?

Image from http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/06/14/heavy_storm_cause_flash_flooding_in_oklahoma_city/

Here are some lessons that can be learned from today:

1. Be flexible. Stuff happens that we don’t plan.

2. Sometimes it can take longer than expected to get where you want to go. I am horrible about being late to everything, so I need to learn to give myself extra time.

3. Unexpected events turn into blessings. I got a nap in and Mike came home early! He wanted to avoid traffic in case the floods were still a problem, but it only took him 15 minutes to get home. I was pretty worried about him getting home too!

4. Pray! When disasters happen, it opens your eyes to other people and the struggles that they face. Prayer helps!

All in all, everything turned out okay for Mike, Lily, and I. There are still people out there who are hurting in OKC due to the storm. I am going to keep on praying!

Grief for Lost Little Ones

Jennifer — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:25:31 +0000

Tears for a Tiny Lost Life

I found this blog entry this morning while perusing bloggymoms.com, and I was moved by this post. I don’t know the situation, but I do know that a couple lost their precious baby boy while seven months pregnant. I felt moved to link back to her blog, written by a friend of the couple. Read it. Its good!

I can’t think of anything harder than losing a child. I have some dear friends who have lost children, only to be incredibly grieved myself by their loss. My heart still goes out to them, and I hold them up in prayer often.

I think we should all be grateful for our children. We should hold them tight, and thank the Lord for our little ones. I know that I do every day for Lily. I am so blessed to have her. Someday, when she is driving me crazy as a willful toddler, I need to remember to always be thankful for her. Everyday, I need to love her more and more.

Adventures in Weight Loss

Jennifer — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 11:30:08 +0000

The funny thing about having a baby is that you gain a bunch of weight, and it takes forever for it to go away (at least for some of us). Of course, you lose some weight right away, when you push the little one out, along with the rest of the placenta and other baby stuff. My eating habits were awful during the pregnancy and in the first three months postpartum, so I actually gained 5 more pounds on top of what I already had. That left me about needing to lose 16 total pounds to officially get rid of the baby weight. And personally, I want to lose 20-30 pounds more on top of that.

I want to be healthy. Statistically, as a woman, if you are overweight and have a waist size larger than 35 inches, you have a greater chance of heart disease. Because of that, I want to lose at least seven inches from my waist. I’m not sure how possible it is, but I want to at least work towards it.

Normally, I am pretty good about not eating over my calorie allotment. I am pretty generous with myself, and I don’t starve myself by any means. Last week, I totally blew it when my parents were here. I didn’t work out, and I ate horribly. This happens quite a bit. It just means that I have to get right back on the horse and keep on going. We all stumble, but that doesn’t mean I can quit.

So far to date, I think I have lost over ten pounds and lost about an inch from my waist. I have been working to lose weight since mid-March, so I have lost approximately a pound a week. I’m proud of that. My strides have been slow, but steady. I’m not really sure where I will end up, but I do plan on giving it my best shot.

To change my family forever, starting with me. Stay tuned…

High Chairs, Exersaucers, and Carrots

Jennifer — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 05:16:50 +0000

This week so far hasn’t been too eventful. On Sunday, I emailed a lady about a high chair and another lady about her exersaucer. I found the ads on Craigslist. I haven’t really used Craigslist before, but now, I can say that I’m a fan! So, on Monday, I picked them up. Lily isn’t ready for the high chair yet, but she loves her exersaucer.

It took her a few minutes to get the hang of it, but she just loves sticking everything in her mouth. Too cute!

On Tuesday, I watched a friend at a playgroup give her little one some baby food and realized that I am giving Lily food correctly…just not having enough patience with her. So, I gave her carrots and she loved them. Or more, wore them!

The poor thing had carrots in her hair and even up her nose a little bit. It was fun. This evening, we tried sweet potatoes again, and she just loved them. I am going to start making her food, as I want to save some money as she consumes more of it. Before, I really didn’t know what I was doing, so it took us a whole month to get through one jar of sweet potatoes. She finished it tonight.

Being a mom is the best. It takes some patience, but I wouldn’t trade it. Plus, that sweet little face is priceless!

Dear Restaurant: You Stink!

Jennifer — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 22:23:34 +0000

Dear Restaurant:
I went to you last week for brunch, and I must say that I was less than impressed with you. Here are some reasons why:

1. You don’t have a changing table for me to change my little one on. So, when I go to the bathroom to change her, it makes it extremely difficult. What am I supposed to do? Change her in the booth when her butt is stinky?

2. Your food is less than exceptional. I have been to you twice, and both times, the food was rather bad.

3. Our server wasn’t very kind. I know she may have had a bad day, and I understand, but it just doesn’t help your image.

I’m sorry to tell you this, dear restaurant. Its just that for me, if a restaurant stinks, I don’t want to go there again. Customer service is a big thing to me. You just don’t make the cut.

Nonetheless, thank you for serving me. The company was great, and I had a good time visiting with my friend. Please don’t take it personally. I wish you the best of luck in the future.

Love,

Your Unhappy Customer

My Personal Little Miracle

Jennifer — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 22:03:52 +0000

A year ago yesterday, we had our first ultrasound to see our little Lily. I was 10 weeks pregnant, so she was just the size of a strawberry at the time. I remember when the technician placed the doppler on my belly and saw her for the first time. It was crazy. She was so tiny, and it was awesome watching her wiggle her arms and legs. I was thinking thoughts like, “Am I really pregnant with that? So, that’s the thing that is sucking all the life out of me!”

Now, a year later, I am amazed at this little person. She is a bit bigger, weighing in at about 15 pounds. She is probably 25-26 inches long…I can tell you more at her 6-month doctors appointment in 2 weeks.

What amazes me is the constant ways that she grows and changes. Now, she holds her feet and eats them, grabs toys and chews on them, and she is constantly growing in her awareness of the world. All the time, I am greeted with her precious smile. She will laugh when her daddy and I laugh sometimes, and she loves it when I kiss her on the cheek. I think she’s also starting to teethe, as she’s been a bit fussier lately.

The bond between mother and daughter is so strong. I would give my life for her, and I adore everything about her. I never thought that having a child would be this amazing. I know its not always going to be easy…just well worth it.

Learning Perseverance from an Unruly Contact

Jennifer — Mon, 31 May 2010 13:00:41 +0000

I am very new to contacts! I first got them about three weeks ago, and at the end of the first week, I was struggling with allergies and they weren’t very comfortable. To the doctor I went. He gave me new contacts, complete with different eye drops and cleaner system. I had to wait two days to put them in, and everything was fine! They would be dry sometimes, but if I put in a few eye drops, they were comfortable again.

Well, come yesterday afternoon, I was trying to put them in and the one for my right eye got stuck in my eye lid. Great! Nothing worked to get it out. I called the eye doctor and left a message. I also called an urgent care clinic, but they don’t take things out of your eye. What am I to do? I have to wait until Tuesday since no one is available on Memorial Day weekend. It sucks, but I have no other choice! I have tried over and over to get it out, but I had no such luck.

This reminds me of the Bible verse:

“More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5: 3-5

I have to wait patiently for Tuesday to come and know that I will be just fine. I need to remind myself to hang in there, because I can “build endurance” through my struggles with my eye. By the way, its not painful…just irritating.

What is your “contact situation” right now?

Lessons in Garage Sale Shopping

Jennifer — Sat, 29 May 2010 21:06:05 +0000

I have heard that in order to get a good deal on baby clothing, that it is good to get them at garage sales. So, garage sale shopping I did! I really don’t want to pay full price for any of Lily’s clothes. So, if I can get a good deal, I’m gonna try!

So, for $5.5o, I got 10 outfits:

Snazzy, I know! I just drove around, looking for garage sales. If they had anything as I drove by, I stopped, took Lily out, and looked through their pile of clothes. I did more driving than looking, but for two hours worth of shopping, I can’t say that I fared badly at all!

Unfortunately, though, I drove around the part of town that didn’t have a whole lot of garage sales. Next time, I need to find areas that have a greater garage sale to population density..

The Unexpected Blessings of an Unwanted Move to OKC

Jennifer — Thu, 27 May 2010 18:42:07 +0000

I admit that initially before we really entertained the idea of moving, Oklahoma City was not on my radar of places that I wanted to live. I didn’t even think about it! When Michael got the call about an opportunity here, I was actually hoping it wouldn’t work out! After all, we had just put laminate flooring down in our beautiful little home! Little by little, I became excited about it. As I think about all that we left behind, such as our church and our home, I am reminded of all the blessings that have come from the move here:

1. I got to quit my job two months earlier than planned! I was going to leave in early December, but I really wasn’t happy an Ineos Bio.

2. We joined LifeChurch and immediately joined a LifeGroup that blessed us with some awesome friends! I am so blessed with great people here!

3. My spiritual growth here in OKC has been greater than it was in Arkansas, simply because I have had to rely on both God and my friends so much more than we did there. Being home has many struggles that accompany it, and it has been amazing seeing how God has provided for us!

As I look back, I am thankful for what God has given. It is really hard with the fact that family is so far away, but I am still grateful!