New Years Resolutions

When I was younger I would come up with resolutions.  Then I got older & realized I don't really stick to them very well.  But I'm going to try again.  Maybe if I don't set too many resolutions or set them too high I won't fail!

1.  I want to run a 5k under 30 minutes.  There's a race in February I'll be doing but I don't know if I'll meet my goal that soon.  If not, there will be other races.

2.  I will try to blog more often.  Shaylin is growing everyday & I know that the older she gets there will be cute & funny stories to share. 

3.  We are determined to be debt-free by the end of 2011.  There will be sacrifices but in the end it will be worth it.

That's all I've got.  Three resolutions should be easy to keep, right?

What are your resolutions, if any?

Shaylin's First Christmas

We decided to spend the night with Jeremy's parents on Christmas Eve & then ended up staying the next night as well (which helped since I had gotten sick with a cold & needed the extra help with Shaylin).

For Christmas Eve we did appetizers like meatballs, chips & dip, & veggie trays.  There was plenty of food for 4 adults (nothing that Shaylin could eat) so we were eating it the next day, too.

We also exchanged stockings.  As usual stocking were over-flowing.  Shaylin seemed to enjoy pulling stuff out of her stocking.

Then Jeremy & I did our pajama exchange.  We've been doing this for 8 Christmas' now.  This way we have new pajamas to wear Christmas morning.  But now we got to add our daughter to the mix.  This is something we've been looking forward to for a long time.  Should the Lord give us more children it'll be fun to possibly match the kiddos.

I don't know how other families do presents but we unwrap presents one person at a time.  That way you get to see what the other people get & see their reaction.  It makes the process last longer but what's the rush?!  If we can have a Christmas in the future with Jeremy's entire family together it will probably take half the day with 8 adults & 7 (or more!) kids.

Shaylin didn't understand how to unwrap her gifts but she enjoyed playing with them.  And the boxes of course.  I'm sure next year she'll be much more into it.

Later we had breakfast which was pancakes & bacon.  Shaylin ate almost an entire pancake!  No syrup though.  The girl doesn't need the sugar.

Other than that we had a late lunch/early dinner of ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, & rolls.  And then we just hung out & watched Christmas movies like A Christmas Story & Home Alone.

A cold for Christmas

It looks like Shaylin is getting her first cold & she's getting it for Christmas. 

Yester we noticed her sneezing more than usual.  By the evening I could hear her getting stuffed up with gunk.  I put the humidifier on in her room last night.  It didn't help as far as sleep goes.  From the time she went to bed (8:45) to midnight I don't think she slept a solid hour.  Most of the time she'd just cry out & go back to sleep.  So by the time I went to bed (12:15) I turned the monitor off.  I figure if she's just going to cry out like that I may as well get as much undisturbed sleep as I can.

But at some point in the middle of the night she woke up & wouldn't settle down.  I know she was just feeling awful.  So I scooped her up & went to the guest room.  I thought it best to go there since there wouldn't be a ceiling fan blowing down on her & Jeremy could still have a chance to rest.  Snuggling with her momma seemed to help settle her down & let her rest.  But the momma doesn't get much sleep.  I know I did sleep a tiny bit because I remember a couple short dreams.  But I certainly don't feel rested.

Since Jeremy was going to be home today I had wanted to do an outside run.  But now with my lack of sleep & the fact that it's really cold & raining outside, I don't see any run going on today.  Besides, I'm a momma before I'm a runner & my baby needs me.

11 Months Old

The fact that Shaylin is now 11 months old means, to me, that she's only 1 month away from turning 1 year old.  But I won't focus on that right now.

- Shaylin has stood for about 2 seconds without holding onto anything. 

- She's cruising even more.  She'll do circles around the coffee table.

- She's clearly said "mama" & "da" & occasionally says "bye-bye".

- Her wave is the cutest ever!

- I finally found a food she doesn't like: real oatmeal.  I thought I'd try switching her to real oatmeal since I eat it a lot & I could just make a little bit larger batch.  It was the first time to see her actually push food away.  I even tried mixing strawberry jelly in it to give it a sweeter flavor without using brown sugar.  No go.

- I've let Shaylin have a taste of cow's milk.  Weaning starts when she turns 1 so I'll be replacing nursing sessions with milk in a sippy cup.  I wanted to at least let her try it out & be sure she doesn't have a reaction to it.  So far, so good.

- Shaylin loves kids!  She gets so excited when she sees the kids at church.  She'll be able to spend time with some of her cousins next week & I'm excited to see how she'll interact with them.

Thanksgiving

I never posted how our Thanksgiving trip went.  Shaylin is napping at the moment but since I never know how long her naps will be, I'll try not to make this too long.

 This was our first time to fly with a baby so we were nervous.  It didn't help that we had to connect in Atlanta both ways.  But Shaylin was a model baby.  As we were taking off I nursed her to help with any ear pressure.  And then she promptly went to sleep.  When she was awake she was sweet & making the flight attendants laugh & just fall in love with her.  We were very proud parents.

We spent a few nights with my brother, sister-in-law, & niece.  It was fun seeing our daughters together.  The last time they were together was in March but they were too young to know who they were with.  This time they didn't quite play together but they were still very cute together.  I love that Shaylin has a girl cousin so close in age.

We also spent a couple days at "the coast" as I grew up calling it where my grandmothers live.  This was Shaylin's first time to meet her great-grandmothers, Me-ma & Nanny.  Actually, Shaylin met a lot of new people the entire trip but she never showed any stranger anxiety at all & was just a sweetheart.

While out there we were able to do family pictures with my family.  The last time we'd had them done was 6 years ago, long before babies were in the picture (literally, ha!).

Overall, it was a good trip & Shaylin made traveling with a baby a great experience.

Blackeye Pea Soup

How have I not posted this recipe?!  This is one of our favorite meals & I made it for dinner tonight.  Warms you right up on a cold evening.  Makes a lot, too.

1 lb. dried blackeye peas
1 lb. sausage (I use kilbasa sausage), sliced
1 cup carrots, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups chicken broth
1/2 t Italian seasoning
1/2 t salt
1 t pepper
Tabasco sauce (to add at the end to taste)

Soak peas overnight.  Drain in the morning & dump in crockpot.
Chop veggies & add in crockpot.  Add sliced sausage.  Pour in chicken broth.  Add garlic, Italian seasoning, salt & pepper.
Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 6 hours.
Before serving, scoop out 1 cup of peas (it's ok if a little carrot & celery come, too).  Blend in blender & add back with soup.  This will help thicken the broth & look creamier.
Add tabasco sauce to individual bowls.

I've also made this with shrimp in it but they were so tiny by the time it was done that you wouldn't know there was shrimp in there.  I'd like to try again with larger shrimp & maybe some chicken, too.

An Etiquette Lesson - Repost

Over 2 years ago I wrote a blog post on my old blog about what to say & not to say to someone who's gone through a miscarriage.  I thought I'd repost that today. 

You can read that post here. 

Here's something else to consider.  If someone is going through a difficulty, don't ask if there's something you can do.  Just do something.  Most people can't come up with something on the spot or they don't want to ask for anything feeling they'd be putting them out.  Maybe mow their grass or bring over dinner.  Offer to drive their kids to school.  Those are just some ideas but the point is to just take care of them.  My associate pastor often quotes a verse (which I fail to know the reference at the moment) but in one translation it reads "Outdo one another in kindness".  What a great verse to live by!

Working Moms

Well, my time as a working mom is almost over.  My last day was originally supposed to be this Friday but to help give my mother-in-law (and myself!) some much needed shopping time I changed it to this Wednesday.  I can't wait!  I love morning time with Shaylin.  She's in the best mood then & I hate that I've been missing it.  But at the same time I'm thankful that I had the opportunity to pull in some much needed cash.  It helped us to afford plane tickets to my family for Thanksgiving & has made Christmas shopping a little easier.

So what have I learned from this experience? 

It's hard.  Really, really hard.

I applaud all you working moms out there, especially the full-time working moms.  Every morning I rush around the house, giving myself only 1 hour to get up, do my makeup & hair, pack my lunch, pack Shaylin's bag, & nurse Shaylin.  When I drop Shaylin off with my mother-in-law I just block out that I'll be away from her for 5 hours.  She gets to play with her Nana & Nana gets to spend a lot of quality time with one of her grandchildren.  Shaylin is her first grandchild that's in town so time with her is very special. 

We usually get home by 1:45 which is when Shaylin is ready for an afternoon nap.  She tends to fall asleep in the car which recharges her so I let her stay up a little longer & play.  I feel like that gives me some time to "reconnect" with her.  Then it's nap time, which lately hasn't lasted very long.  That's hard on me because that's been my only chance to run or do any cleaning or laundry.  So my running has definitely slacked in the last 6 weeks.  You moms that manage to train for marathons while working are especially impressive to me.  You should get a medal just for that.

Most of all I've learned that I don't miss working.  I've been working in an insurance office & have written some policies but none of them gave me the joy I get with Shaylin.  I know there are many moms out there that work simply because they have to if they want to pay bills or buy groceries.  It's just the way things are now for many families.  And I can't fault them for that.  We could have been in that position, too, and I'm so thankful that God provided a way out for us.  I'm also so thankful for my husband who works extra hard to keep me at home.  But again, I'm thankful God provided way for him to do that.

So for you working moms out there, I pray that God gives you strength to get through each day.

10 Months Old

I'm a little behind on this post since Shaylin turned 10 months while we were on vacation.  But I don't want this "birthday" to go without mentioning.

Shaylin continually amazes me at how fast she's growing up.  Everyday I see less of a baby & more of a kid.  She's got such a cute & funny personality & is just a sweetheart.

Here are some milestones:

-She's starting "cruising" across things like the coffee table.  I hear that's just before their actual first steps.  Oh my!

- Sleep has been though but we're starting to get a breakthrough.

- She waves bye-bye now, waving her whole arm to do it.  Completely melts my heart when she waves bye-bye when I leave for work (which I have 7 work days left by the way!).

- She's apparently been able to clap for a while but I didn't know that's what she's doing when she's waving both arms.  But while watching Wheel of Fortune one night I clapped & said "yeah" & she started "clapping".  Her hands don't hit together but I'm sure she'll get there.

- She jibber-jabbers A LOT!  And blows raspberries even more!

- She has teeth!  Two actually.  It's the 2 bottom ones but they aren't completely through yet.  As far as I can tell that's all for the moment but she doesn't exactly enjoy me prying her mouth open to take a look at her gums.

December - How it's changed for me

December 2006 - We decided to start trying to have a baby.

December 2007 - Baby #1 was due but had been lost in May.  It was a difficult month.

December 2008 - Baby #3 was due but had been lost in April.  It was even more difficult than the year before.

December 2009 - Shaylin was on her way & my belly was getting huge.  It was a month of hope & excitement for what was to come.

December 2010 - Shaylin is here & I am so excited to celebrate Christmas with her.