Inconsistent

Hello there... I am just popping in to say hello on my phone. The iPhone has kind of ruined my blog for a lot of reasons, but one is that since I can access my email and other important things from my phone I never have to pull out my actual computer. Therefore I rarely have it out to actually type a post!

My writing has been inconsistent as I am sure you can tell. I was doing so well over spring break!! Then my sleepy, sick baby hit the grumpy, sick phase and life had been crazy since then. Everyone is feeling better but our lives are just crazy. David is working 60+ hours a week and we had to get all of the house stuff squared away last week. My semester is making its last up hill climb of the semester and Lydia has been so much fun but also so much work lately.

I mainly wanted to say we are still here! Doing good, but definitely looking forward to a month from now when tax season and the semester will be over and we will be moving into our new house! Between then and now I hope to update you on Lydia, do one last post partum update on me and share some cute Easter pictures :) So thanks for being understanding and continuing to check in!

5 Things I Did Over Spring Break

I had a pretty good spring break! It was different than expected for a few reasons, but all in all it was a week of much needed rest. I had to work Tuesday and Thursday morning still (the 2 colleges I teach at have different spring breaks..) but I was off of work Monday, Wednesday and Friday and had very short days otherwise. Here are a few things that we did!

5. Played in the snow

Kentucky weather is pretty crazy in March, and most of my college spring breaks have involved snow. But none of them before this one involved this cute girl and snow.

4. Finished Best Body Bootcamp and shared the effects that it had on my body.

3. Learned how to curl my hair with no heat!! I did it again last night and it definitely curls up a lot tighter over night - so I will continue to experiment and perfect this method. I am really excited about this...

2. Took care of my sweet, sick baby girl. Obviously I am sad that she was so sick, but it was a good experience in its own way.

1. And last but definitely not least... we bought a house!!! We finished negotiation and signed all the papers, and the inspection will be on Friday. Assuming all goes well we will be closing on April 26th. I am beyond excited and as the time comes closer I will be sure to tell you more about the details of the house!

Now back to the swing of things... but I have less than 2 months left of working before taking the summer off :)

The Honor of Being a Mommy

Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.
-Elizabeth Stone

I think that being a mom gets a bad rap. It is most definitely challenging, time consuming, self-sacrificing and exhausting. It is also fun, inspiring and rewarding. Up until recently I may not have included the latter adjective because for a while mothering Lydia was rarely rewarding. I found it difficult to receive her affection when she was a newborn because I wasn't (and am still not) convinced that she was really giving it. As she has gotten older there are rewarding moments - when she says "mama", when she walks up to me and asks "up?", and when she leans in for an uninvited kiss. However, along with Lydia's new found communication skills has come a sense of independence. She prefers to read alone, loves to explore, and is offended by an invasion of her personal space. Other than nursing she and I have very few cuddly, calm moments. There are definitely days when I long for the past - when she would lay in my arms for hours and sleep soundly on my chest. All in all I enjoy toddler-hood much more than the newborn phase, but at the same time it is always hard to feel as though you are needed less and less.

But these past two days have been some of the most rewarding of my life thus far.

On Thursday Lydia wasn't feeling well. She had a bit of a cough and was running a low grade fever. I brought her home for her afternoon nap and she fell asleep with no problem. She slept for 2 hours and then it was time for David and I to go to small group. I left her with grandparents sure she was getting better, but when we got home the opposite was true. We were up all of Thursday night; Lydia was fighting a fever of 102 and David and I were typical "new" parents - waking her up to take her temperature and force a little Tylenol. I nursed her as her breathing became more shallow and her sleep more restless.

Friday morning I called the doctor and got scheduled for the first available appointment. My mom came over to hold an inconsolable Lydia so that I could brush my teeth and put on some clothes. We all headed to the doctor and received the news that Lydia had pneumonia... and I was devastated. She would be fine, but my baby girl was sick.

On Friday between 7:30 am and 9:30 pm Lydia Grace slept on my chest and nursed. She was maybe apart from me for an hour total throughout the day. My plans to go to Lexington were obviously cancelled and I set any to-do list aside. However, I felt no anger, disappointment or restlessness because there was no question in my mind as to where I wanted to be. I wanted to be with Lydia - holding her, comforting her and literally nursing her back to health.

As I listened to her labored breaths and gazed at her long eyelashes I was struck so many times with a feeling of honor. How do I deserve to be the mother of this precious child? Who am I to be entrusted with her care? Lydia was clear all day long - Daddy won't do, Nana isn't enough, sleeping alone is not an option - all she wanted was me. All she wanted was her mommy. And I felt so, so blessed to be that person.

Yesterday was truly a beautiful day. As I took care of Lydia my own mom refilled my glass of water, fed me lunch and drove us where we needed to go. This morning David's step mom and mom helped immensely by bringing me breakfast and getting Lydia what she needed. Mothers taking care of mothers taking care of daughters.

Lydia is doing much better now although she is definitely still on the mend. She slept in her crib last night from 9:30-5 (with David and I alternating checking on her) and has now been asleep in her crib for 3 1/2 hours (again with me checking on her every 45 minutes or so). She is on an antibiotic and I am so grateful for modern medicine. I know that we may have a long-ish road ahead, and although I would have never wished any sickness on my baby I am also thankful for what these 2 days have brought.

A new perspective - a gracious reward.  A true blessing of honor.

Best Body Bootcamp: Results

Happy Friday! I wanted to check in over here and tell you guys about the awesome results I got from Tina Reale's Best Body Bootcamp - Round 4. I would encourage any of you out there who think you would enjoy it to sign up for Round 5!

I plan on doing this Best Body Bootcamp every winter because it really gave me the motivation I needed while the weather was awful, and provided me with convenient yet effective at home workouts. Another thing that I loved about the program was that each week Tina challenged us to make 2 goals, and they didn't necessarily have to be fitness or health related. Because of this challenge I am now drinking more water, eating a fruit and veggie each day, regularly walking my beautiful dog and reading 2 books to Lydia each day. It is amazing how all it takes to develop some new habits (at least for me) is someone telling me I should.

All of these reasons are enough for me to highly recommend the program - but the added bonus is the amazing results that I saw in my body! I didn't do the fitness test at the beginning (I have no idea why... I guess I was lazy!), but I did take some body measurements. As the program progressed I definitely noticed some of my mommy belly going away and that my arms were getting stronger. When I took my after measurements today I had to do a couple double takes, and then re-measure.

As I suspected by hips and thighs stayed the same... I have a small bottom half no matter what I do. My bicep grew by 1/2 and inch, which is awesome, and my waist at its narrowest shrunk by 1/2 an inch. But I was so surprised to see that I had lost 3 pounds and that my waist at my belly button had shrunk by 2 inches! Craziness.

Needless to say I am happy with the results, and I am glad that I took a small risk to sign up. It helped motivate me in so many ways, and the program really came at the perfect time.

Let me know if you have any questions, and I encourage you to visit Tina's site for answers as well!

House Hunt - The Offer

Yesterday we put an offer in on a house... and we are so, so excited about it!

Everything happened faster than we expected. David said something that was so true about a week ago - "Just like when you are looking for a puppy, don't look for a house until you are ready to buy one." It was crazy how quickly we went from having no idea what we wanted to narrowing things down to exactly what we wanted. Before the whole experience David and I made a "must have", "nice to have" and "bonus" list of qualities. This house has all of our must and nice-to haves, and 3/4 of our bonus things!

It hasn't all been easy (although it has been pretty easy), and I know the process isn't finished yet. We found another house earlier on that we like A LOT, but it sold before we were comfortable enough to make any kind of offer. After that we felt a little defeated - you spend time telling yourself why a house will be perfect and then someone else buys it! But looking back we would have made compromises with that house that I think we would have regretted.

We know God has a house picked out just for us, and as much as we hope it is this one, if it isn't we trust that there is a reason. We feel so blessed to have the opportunity to be looking for our own home for our little family, and it is incredible to start to picture our lives together in this home.

I promise to keep you updated! And your thoughts and prayers for a smooth process would be so appreciated.

No Heat Headband Curls

Lately I have been hating my hair... David likes it long, but I like it short. I guess I am growing it out for him. although while it was short I definitely found myself wishing I could put it in a pony tail or curl is for a date. Yesterday when my friend posted a picture of her no heat curls on instagram, I knew I had to try whatever she did.

I don't love using a curling iron... the curls always come out a little bit too tight for me. My hair is very soft and doesn't have much personality, so its tendency is to be flat and boring. I have wanted to find a way for a very long time to shower at night and then have my hair look nice in the morning. Getting up and ready for work by 7:20 is not so fun with a 14 month old - so I thought that cutting out the shower would help. I think I have found the answer!

So, I mainly followed these two tutorials (here and here), but if you just google "no heat headband curls" tons will pop up. Try to find a girl with similar hair to you that way you have a better idea of how it will turn out.

Basically, at 8 am I got my hair a little damp and used an elastic headband (that I had sewn together around 7:30) to wrap my hair around. See the tutorials for these details... I am not such a great teacher with hair.

I looked like a ninja and David was sure to secretly snap a picture of me before he left for work.

I made coffee, ate breakfast, changed a diaper and played for a while, and then put Lydia down for her nap. At 10 I lifted the headband off of my forehead and shook the hair off. It looked a little crazy and I got nervous.

I got dressed (don't judge... I am on spring break) did some stuff around the house and just let the curls relax a bit. By 11 they looked better so I put some smoothing stuff in to add texture and gave it a quick spray.

It probably helps that in this picture I am wearing some makeup and real clothes. I should add that this is second day hair! Next time I am going to try showering at night and letting my hair dry 90% of the way, then sleeping with the ninja look. David will love it I am sure.

I am pretty impressed by the method and really excited that I found a new way to do my hair! You should try it, and let me know what you think :)

Best Daddy Ever

I will try to be brief here because I don't want to brag too much. But one of my most favorite parts of Lydia coming into our lives has been watching David become a father. He is a wonderful dad in so many ways and each day I am so grateful for such an awesome partner in the adventure that is parenting.

This picture illustrates in many ways why David is so special. Every day Lydia longs to go play outside which is great... Except that it has been freeeeeeeeezing here. I am so over winter. So while she whines and cries (and scream sans throws tantrums) at the back door I try to explain to her the logical reasons why we can't go outside to play. It is cold. She will get sick. Mommy really doesn't feel it is the best use of time to bundle up in 4 layers just to swing and play for 5 minutes.

And what does David do? He takes her outside to swing. No excuses. No rationalization. Just patient, perfect, spontaneous flexibility. We balance each other (almost) perfectly as parents and I am oh so thankful for this amazing man!!

Happy Friday friends!!