Matt's New Shoes

Tonight I had to run to Target to pick up one thing and as I was heading out Matt said to me, "Buy me a present." We often say this to each other and come home with a bag of candy, something from the super cheap bin at whatever store we're going to, or nothing at all. Tonight I decided to take the challenge and get something nice. So $15 later I bought Matt a pair of shoes. I love them. He gives them weird looks. I think he can wear them with shorts or khaki's this summer. He thinks they can be his summer slippers or yard shoes. I told him I was going to post a picture on the blog and get some feedback from real people who understand real fashion. Please take time to let us know what you think about Matt's shoes by commenting and/or voting in the poll on the right side of our blog.

In case you were wondering, I did marry Matt for his legs;)

Swimming

This month we were able to take swimming "lessons" at a local aquatic center. They consist of Mommy (or Daddy) and baby playing in the water together for 30 minutes twice a week for the whole month. We do fun things like sing songs, s-pulls, duck dives, going underwater, and today they even turned on the water slides for us. Grace was completely indifferent about going down the slide though! My friend Erica and her daughter took the class too and we left the babies with our husbands in the water several times today so we could go down the slides on our own. I guess we know who the real kids were tonight.

Trying to Walk

Here is a cute video we just captured of Grace taking steps. Sometimes she gets so excited she falls over!

11 Months Old

The countdown until Grace's 1st birthday begins! Only 1 month left! This month I have felt more challenged as a parent and also just loved Grace's personality more and more everyday. This has definitely not been one of those months where things seemed to fly by but one where things have drug on a little bit more than usual. Below is the monthly summary...

Sleeping: Grace is still on the same schedule but I'm not sure how long it's going to last. Naps are at 9 and 1 and bedtime from 7-7. She might be closer to one nap a day than I realize. After having a cold that impacted her daytime sleep she finally got back to her normal schedule and then Daylight Savings Time came around. 5 times during the past week Grace has not slept well for her morning nap and taken a great afternoon nap. The other days she took a good morning nap and a bad afternoon nap. I've got an action plan to help me determine the best number of and best time for her naps over the next month so hopefully things will be settled by then.

Nursing: I'm still nursing Grace 4 times a day. She hasn't bit me this month so I think we tackled and conquered that issue quickly. I'm planning on starting to wean her off of nursing in about 2 weeks. For me waiting until the day she turns 1 is not that big of a deal and it will be nice to have her off of the daytime feedings in time for several events in the middle of April. I'm expecting the weaning process to take about a month and am planning on taking it slowly. I can't help but be a little anxious and I hope Grace does well with it.

Eating: I have totally forgotten what pureed baby food is and I love it! She had taken such an interest in table food and seemed to prefer it so we just started giving it to her all the time. I finished up the last of the food I made for her and we haven't looked back. All in all Grace only had pureed food for 4 months. She's been eating right along with us for most of March. It has made me work a little bit harder at meal planning but I think it is good for us. Although, there have been several meals where I'll heat up extra veggies just for Grace and not make any for Matt and me. Oops:)

Playing: This month has been fun to watch Grace learn and grow in her personality and playfulness. She is making so many more connections and learning so much everyday. One of her new favorite activities is dropping things behind her back, turning around to find it, and repeating the process. She also has her favorite books that she looks at constantly.

Walking: I gave this it's own category since I think there will be at least a couple months of updates on Grace's progress here. Over the last month Grace has gotten good at just standing on her own (as pictured above). A couple of weeks ago she took her first step. She did it 2 different times 2 days in a row and that was that. She had not tried again until this weekend when she took 2, 3, and even 4 steps to get to me. She did it several times! It was so cute because as soon as we stood her up to walk to me she would start shrieking with excitement because she knew what she was about to do. It's amazing seeing your little baby take steps that's for sure.

Communicating: Grace has gotten both mama and dada down now. She is not always consistent with them but she knows who we are. She has added "more" to her sign language and does it mostly while eating. I'm trying to teach her to pant like a dog when she sees dogs but she only does it to mimic me not to spontaneously identify a dog.

Those are the highlights I can remember for now. There are so many new things everyday it's hard to remember everything.

Book Review: Introverts In The Church

As a self-proclaimed moderate introvert, I was intrigued when I heard about the book, "Introverts In The Church" by Adam S. McHugh, from a blog I subscribe to. I hadn't really heard of any book that tried to address how introverts fit into the church or any analysis of issues related to introverts that are in the current church, so I decided to get the book to find out what it had to offer. Below you will find a brief summary of the book as well as my review of it.

Book Summary:

The book opened with a general discourse on what comprises an introvert and some psychological details on what tendencies an introvert would show and also how to identify if you're an introvert.The author described the three main characteristics of introverts as:

1) Energized by solitude
2) Internal processing
3) Depth over breadth (relationally)

Then the book voyaged into the nature of the church today (specifically in America) and the difficulties the author believes exist for an introvert to thrive in the church and specifically in leadership. He detailed how the concept of "fellowship hour" -- what I took as socializing after a worship service -- is really difficult for an introvert. He also detailed how many church leaders are only praised for their social skills and that developing leaders who don't display social charisma aren't raised up in the church. In later chapters, the author talked about how worship styles can be detrimental for introverts. He suggested that introverts would do better with periods of long silence during services or quieter music or darker lighting. In speaking of community, the author held up the value of relationships and the need for introverts to get out of their comfort zone to be in biblical community. The book also included a chapter geared towards helping introverts heal from their experiences in the church.

My Review:

After reading the book, I am still convinced that I am an introvert. However, I continually felt a disconnect between what the author was speculating about introverts and what my experience has been. As someone who has been in the church his whole life, it was hard for me to identify with the difficulties the author presented. While I understand some social situations in the church can be more draining for introverts such as me (such as "fellowship hour"), that doesn't mean it shouldn't be a part of what comprises the church. And I definitely enjoy loud music at church and would rather hear someone teaching God's word than having a long period of silence. Also, my experience has been that the church is a healthy and empowering place for leaders who are introverts. It is possible that I have been in good church situations where all types of leaders have been empowered and encouraged, no matter their personality type. But I'd still hypothesize that the author is making a bigger deal out of the situation than really exists. (I'm too lazy to actually do that type of cross-church analysis to find out.)

In summary, while the book had some interesting advice for introverts in handling their personality in community, I wouldn't recommend this book unless you have a very strong interest in reading more about introverts and their perspective in the church.

Thankful Thursday

Today I'm thankful for....

1. Kids eat free at O'Charley's.

2. Grace eats free for at least 2 days because the portions are HUGE!

Quilting Machine

I've had this post ready to go for a few days and now that I've given the gift I wrote about away I can finally post it.

My mom bought a quilting machine about a year ago and I was able to use it for the first time recently. We have some friends who are expecting twins in May and I decided to make them baby blankets and then quilt them. Using this machine has totally stepped up my game in what I can do with baby quilts. So if you are one of the lucky people who has received a homemade gifts from me I apologize that it isn't as cool as these.

Here I am quilting and posing like a dork.

The quilting is done so I'm pulling them off the machine. Now all I have to do it cut them apart and add binding around the edges.

The boy's quilt.

The girl's quilt.

Grace's First Bratwurst

Matt grilled out for the first time this year on Tuesday and we shared some of our yummy meat with Grace. She loved it. Unfortunately I don't know how to edit video so it starts with Matt saying, "Oh frick" because he thought he was taking a picture. Turns out we are happy to have Grace's first bratwurst eating experience on camera. Also, don't mind my voice I was very sick at the beginning of this week.

Ford Escape

Remember this post? Well, just over a year ago we bought a Jeep and really liked it a lot. It was a 2007 and had a year left on the warranty. Unfortunately that warranty was well used by us. And even more unfortunately the problem of it stalling at high speeds was never resolved. After several phone calls and lots of frustration later we decided since the warranty was up the best decision would be to trade the car in. Our dealer is completely aware of the problem and I trust that if they can find it they will fix it. But, it has been hard to identify the problem and it is so infrequent that I just don't know if they will find it. We did get more for our car than we paid for it which is awesome since cars typically depreciate. In the end we upgraded to a 2009 so we ended up having to pay a little but it was for a newer car. And it just feels good to have a car with 2 years of warranty left. Although, I really don't want to have to use it! So what did we get? As seen above, a 2009 Ford Escape (the picture above is not our car but one I found online that looks just like ours).

One more thing I would like to note is this is the first time in my life that the primary car that I am driving is not red. I don't even know what to look for in parking lots.

Pillowcase Dress

My SIL recently clued me into a cute idea for a little girl's outfit called the pillowcase dress. She ordered an adorable one for my niece for her 1st birthday so I figured I'd look and see what these dresses were all about. Well, as you can see from Grace's picture they are cute. Fortunately for me, my mother taught me how to sew. So I decided to use some leftover fabric from Grace's curtains and bed skirt and try to make the dress. I think it turned out pretty nice but I will be making some modifications to my pattern for the next time I make this dress. And there will be a next time. The great thing about these is she can wear it as a jumper this spring, a dress this summer, a shirt over long sleeves next winter, and a shirt by itself next summer. So versitale and long lasting. Isn't she just the cutest? Don't mind the jeans underneath. I just slipped it on over whatever she was wearing that day.

Too Much TV

Why do I watch so much TV? Last night Matt and I were having a discussion about how much TV we watch and concluded it is way too much. Until about 6 years ago I NEVER watched TV. And from then until about 1 year ago I rarely watched TV. I didn't know what shows were on and I didn't care. There were several days I would come home from work and read an entire book if I didn't have anything going on that evening. But over the last year the tides have changed. I don't turn the TV on during the day while Grace is awake unless I want to watch the news but during her afternoon nap I watch it at least twice a week. Once Grace is in bed at 7:00 we probably have the TV on 4 or 5 nights a week. Here are my 3 answers to why I/we watch so much TV.

1. Netflix - I love Netflix. It is cheap and you can get anything to watch. We really don't watch that many movies through Netflix but we watch lots of TV shows. Since we really haven't watched much TV over the last several years we have tons of shows we can rent and catch up on. We just watch everything a year late. We are currently watching Chuck.

2. Hulu - O my, this is addicting. Somehow we have the capacity via some kind of chord to play our computer through our TV so if it's on Hulu it is as good as TV to me. Did you know Hulu has over 100 episodes of House Hunters? Have you heard of the ABC Family show Make it or Break it? We don't even get cable but I've watched the 19 episodes so far this season on Hulu.

3. We can't leave - Now that we have a baby that goes to bed at 7:00 and isn't old enough to take care of herself we can't leave. So after taking care of a baby all day long watching TV is the mindless activity that we enjoy. I wish I could do more mindful things like playing games, crossword puzzles and reading but it's just not happening as much.

I have been feeling like my TV watching habits need a little bit of a makeover. I don't want my mind to rot. But when it comes to the end of the day I have no motivation to do anything else. Maybe just writing this post will help me keep the TV off.

I Want This...

The Radio Flyer Pathfinder Wagon 2700.

Who knew such and amazing wagon existed? Can you imagine Grace and her little friends riding this wagon from our house to the nearly completed* park in our neighborhood? I have been drooling and daydreaming about this wagon for the last several days. It comes with a lofty price tag of $70-80 if you get it on a good sale. I'm beginning to think it would be worth sacrificing my own miscellaneous and clothing money to get this. I wonder what the chances are of finding this used or at a consignment sale....

*When I moved into my house 4 years ago one of the selling points was the 7 acre park that was being built. At the time I didn't really care but I know several families were very excited about the park in our neighborhood. Last summer they FINALLY started construction on it and it is looking ever so close to being done. The playground equipment is installed but still sitting in an unfilled hole. I really hope they get it done before the summer begins.

Vegetarian Enchilada Casserole

I bet you blinked your eyes when you saw one of my recipes was vegetarian. Yes, I do cook without meat but only for special occasions. And Matt didn't eat a bite of this so I've been eating it for a week strait. Grace loved it though and signed more (which I had only taught her once a week before after I gave her some). I hope you find time to make this yummy dish. Enjoy.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 chopped medium onion
  
• 2 chopped peppers (I did one yellow and one red)
  
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3/4 cup salsa
  
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 15.8 ounce cans black beans, drained
• 6-8 tortillas (I've been buying all whole wheat products and Meijer sells some yummy whole wheat flour tortillas)
  
• 2 cups cheese shredded
• 3 tomatoes chopped (optional)
• sour cream (optional)
• sliced black olives (optional)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine onion pepper, garlic, salsa, cumin and black beans in large skillet and bring to simmer over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently for 3 minutes.

Arrange 1/2 of the tortillas in bottom of 9" x 13" baking dish overlapping them as necessary. Spread half of bean mixture over tortillas and sprinkle with half of cheese. Repeat layering process with remaining tortillas, bean mixture and cheese.

Cover dish with foil and bake 15 minutes. Carefully remove foil and serve warm.

*******Garnish with tomatoes, sour cream and olives.*******The garnish made it go from really good to delicious!

Homemade Salsa

I have been trying for the last several months to make the perfect homemade salsa. I tried and failed and tried and failed several times. I finally found a great recipe on a fun blog I read. I didn't modify it much. The main difference between my recipe and hers is mine is modified to fit in my 11 cup food processor. I learned the hard way that the liquid max fill line is there for a reason.

Ingredients

1 15 oz. can whole tomatoes
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1/4 yellow or white onion
1 jalapeno
1 clove garlic
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1 large handful cilantro

Preparation

Cut jalapeno and onion in to chunks. Slice garlic into a few pieces. Put everything in the food processor and run until desired consistency it reached.

Eat and enjoy!