A ten month trip

Lucy Clare--You are now ten months and you are busier than ever! You are talking, moving, laughing, and all around having a ball. I love this age right now. You are funny. You are so independent! You are growing so fast! You've done a lot lately, so here is a trip in pictures!

10 months photo shoot. This is THE ONLY picture I got of you sitting in your spot. You would not sit still this month!

You have learned to give a "high five." It is so cute!

Not sure what you are doing in that above picture, but that's how I find you most mornings when I go to wake you up! And you have learned to laugh and smile when something is really funny to you! Ha!


You have learned to love the grass!

You have really liked this ride along/push thing Gammy bought you! Look at you go! (and major props to Godmomma B for your super cute shoes!)

What else is going on?

• you have 6 teeth and are working on 2 more.
• you are almost totally on solid food. You like mac/cheese, strawberries, watermelon, grapes, chicken.... ok, you really pretty much like anything I put down in front of you! :)
• You sleep from 9 to 6:30 every night. I love this!
• You are such a good baby, and everyone says so. I can take you anywhere!
• You are a daddy's girl. You melt his heart every day!
• You are going on your first cruise next month! Wow! I am so excited!
• You can "cruise" holding on to furniture. You are still a little scared when you let go as to what to do!
• I love you!

I am so ready to spend the summer with you! 5 more days till it is summer vacation! Tons of swimming, sleeping, and cuddling.. along with some great trips!

Love you!

Support

I mentioned in my last post that I had become a ZUMBA instructor last month. I haven't taught many classes (ok, just two) but I totally enjoyed making my friends sweat! Ha! Some of you may know that I was once our church's Youth Minister and I still help out when I can and the new YM and I are pretty good friends. Every summer our youth kids go on a mission trip called "Catholic Heart Work Camp" and it is an awesome experience for them. They help fix houses, help around different communities, and share their faith, all within the United States (which is a big deal to me.) This year 30 kids will be heading down to South Florida to help for a week. 30 kids is a great number, but with that comes the cost of sending all those kids on a mission trip. We have been thinking of different things we could do to help defer the cost for the kids and I decided I would have a ZUMBA fundraiser. I will have a hour long class and give all the money right over to the church so they can help send the kids!

I am super excited and I hope we really get a good turn-out. So for those of you in my area, please join us! Feel free to email me for exact times and location!

I have a number in my head that I am going to pray that God will fulfill for us. I pray that the church community will rally around us and burn a few calories while raising money! For those of you who don't live near us, please pray that God will bless us as we try to raise the money and especially pray for our teens as they travel to spread God's Word!

And finally, just cuz I think this little one is so dang adorable... her is a picture of Ms. LC doing what she likes to do.. Stand! Isn't she just so beautiful?! ♥

9 months and a workout

Hello! It has been awhile since I have posted, mainly because I have been busy, but really I have just been procrastinating and too busy reading other people's blogs! I thought I would catch up so Lucy will have her baby book one day! Lucy turned 9 months on the 16th. I can't believe she is thisclose to being a year old! Her personality has just broken loose lately. She is babbling, crawling, trying to walk, and into everything!

What else are you up to these days, sweet one?

I like this picture because your eyelashes are so fabulous, but I love the little bit of sweet potatoe on the tip of your nose!

• You are wearing a size 3 diaper.
  
• You eat solid foods for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You have tried lots of new foods lately!




• You drink 6 to 8 ounces of formula at each bottle feeding
• You are crawling everywhere, and will follow me into every room I will walk into.
  
• You have become "clingy" to me when we are out, until you become familiar with people.
  
• Da-da is your word of choice, even though you still say "yeah!"




• You do this break-dance spin on the floor. You will move around in circles on your butt. It is the cutest thing!




• You love to play on the floor with your toys. You especially like cooking utensils!
  
• You throw a "fit" when you don't get your way!
  
• You are back to sleeping through the night, and putting yourself to sleep!




• You have three teeth that have come through. Two bottom and one on top. The others are not far behind!
  
• You like to dance holding on to the tv table. You bounce up and down to the music and kick one leg up!




• You are wearing a size 9-12 month clothing.
  
• You sleep on your tummy with your hiney in the air!




• You love watching other children.




• You love your daddy! You reach out to him when he gets home from work and clap!
  
• I love you. Really. I love you. I can't say it enough!
  

Now, this little priss actually sat still for her 9 month pictures! Praise God! I took these pictures the night before I left for a ZUMBA training workshop. I am officially a ZUMBA teacher! It was 9 hours of pure hell but worth every minute! I decided a few months ago to give ZUMBA a shot and I loved it. If you haven't tried this amazing workout, you are missing out! It is an hour of fun Latin dancing where you burn some major calories. I have lost about 10 pounds and a ton of inches just doing ZUMBA. I love it and it totally does not feel like I am working out. I went and got trained and plan on teaching my own classes this summer!

I am also excited that school is coming to a close this year. My summer will be full of hanging out with this amazing kid. This will be a new kind of summer for me as a mom. We have a cruise planned and beach trips with friends and tons of swimming on the agenda. While I love my school kids, I am ready for a break and the whole summer to spend with my sweetie!

Ya'll have a good week!

teaching... it's a gift.

I teach. I am good at it. I love it. I teach first grade at a low income school in my city. I have always taught children like this. It is very hard. It is very challenging, but I love the outcome in the end and what difference I make in the life of a child each day.

Now, Kelly over at Kelly's Korner is having a Show us Your Life.This week is Teacher Gifts. She has these a lot, but this one was the first one to catch my eye. I KNOW about this topic! In my fantasy world, I would love to get gift cards to get a massage, a really good book, a dinner gift card, or a really cute snack basket I could keep at school. You know, something that has things they don't carry in the snack machine.

In my real world, I get used batteries. Half empty bottles of perfume. A school picture from kindergarten. An old necklace. A coffee cup from the dollar store.

I wouldn't trade this.

I make a huge.. read... HUGE deal when a child brings me a present. It just doesn't happen. My kid's parents don't have the money to even think about their child's teacher. I squeal, laugh, and downright almost cry when a child gets a gift and it is all wrapped or in a present bag. This past

Christmas I actually had two little girls get an outfit for my baby! I was beyond the moon.

I love my kids. I love the thought that my child put into my gift. "Man, Mrs. B likes coffee. I bet she would like this coffee filter!" My favorite thing is a sweet note that a child has really put effort into making. I get one weekly from a little girl that says "i love mrs. b. i love her husband. i love lucy clare. i love mrs. b mommy. Truly, i love them."

and this is why I teach.

So, for those of you who can afford a gift for your child's teacher, do it. I know that sometimes it would be nice to get a gift like I will give my child's teacher. (oh, to have a massage!)

The biggest gift I can ask for all teachers is prayer. We take home 18+ little peoples problems every night. I wonder what my kids eat when they get home. I wonder if anyone is even there with them. I wonder what they see in their neighborhoods. Please pray for them!

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

Proverbs 22:6

I ♥ blogs.

I read a lot of blogs. I like them. I like the window they open up into random people's worlds. I like to read other mommy's blogs, crafty blogs, blogs that teach me more about the Lord. I sit at night and will literally have like 10 pages opened up on my screen going from one blog to the next. I read happy blogs, but a lot of times, I read sad blogs. Blogs of mommies who have buried their children, blogs of parents struggling with sick children. and it hurts my heart. I have cried many tears as I watch these ladies struggle to put their lives back together after a loss, or during crisis. I have prayed unceasingly for these same woman. I pray the same list of children each night, and thanked Him in return for what He continues to do for them. It makes my life much more precious. Helps me see that I need not take things for granted. But it doesn't make the ache any easier. But it does help me believe the God is faithful.
I will never forget a blog from a girl in Arkansas who lost her beautiful little girl. I remember I was pregnant at the same time as she was. I was praying so hard that God would answer prayer in the way we earthly people wanted. And not long after I got home with my little girl, she lost hers. I remember crying such wailing tears all over my newborn child's head. I broke for her. And I have watched (or should I say read) this same woman throw herself at the feet of God and her faith... her faith is such testimony to our Lord and Savior.
It is amazing how the Lord uses people who we will never meet for His glory. How is the grand scheme of things, I am sure this girl never thought that a) she would be burying her child or b) that her life would impact so many people.

How I hope that I bring a sense of the Lord to this world. I want others to see God's glory. Even in my silly little blog about my family, I hope that it will shine my love for the Lord.

Be ever grateful for what you have. I know there are days when LC is being fussy or having a "bad" day, and I get so frustrated... and then I remember.... I have her. And it totally changes my thinking and I stop and pray over her right then.

Thank you, Lord, for what I have. Please never let me lose sight of that. Thank you for technology where Your word can be spread to many.

I know my mom would say me reading these blogs will help and hurt me. I freak out at the smallest thing. I am forbidden (ha!) from google-ing things. The Internet is my blessing and my curse!

I don't know why I even wrote a post about this tonight. I guess I just wanted to convey my thoughts on how I love reading blogs!

I will end on a happy note..my sweet baby girl will be 9 months old this week! Oh my, how time is going by so fast! She is a crawling, talking, eating machine! I look forward to her doctors appointment to see how much she weighs! And another happy note, my best friend welcomed her (huge) baby boy this week into the world! Cole was born Monday and weighed in at 10 pounds, 2 ounces! He is happy, healthy, and so beautiful! God is good!
Have a wonderful week. I promise my next post will have pictures of my baby girl! I know that's what you really want to see anyway!

Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you.

3 John 1:5

I know!

10Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"
"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." 14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15"Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."
16Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).
17Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "
18Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.

John 20: 10-18

I believe! I can only imagine how Mary felt coming to the tomb to prepare Jesus' dead body! How she must have felt such disgust and outrage to see that someone had taken his body away. And then, she did finally recognize Him... and how? Was it the way He said her name? The way he looked at her? Or was it that He is God and opened her mind to see Him? To know her thoughts would be marvelous... and what did she want to do immediately? Hug Him. After watching Him suffer such a cruel death, to touch Him was what she wanted.. to 'hold on' to Him. and He must have had to pull her away! Then to tell her that He must go to His Father must have been still puzzling to her, to have Him back, only to lose Him again?

I believe! I believe what Mary saw. I know that she saw my Lord and Savior. I know He rose again, and while I don't understand the ins and outs of how that works, my faith tells me that this man did just that. The God-man sent to earth to die for my sins, to be an example of my faith and walk, laid His life down for me, and then just rose right up from the grave. I believe... I know... I have faith.

Happy Easter to you! May the risen Christ fill you with joy today and forever. May you feel the peace that Mary felt seeing her Lord that Easter morning! May you always remember that your Redeemer LIVES!

Remember when?

I was looking over my blog and thought to myself.. man, I wonder what I was doing a year ago. March 2009. What was my life like then? I can hardly remember life without spit-up, diapers, and huge hairbows, but I know I used to be the fun, karaoke singin, "Yeah" dance-routine'n, sleep all day kinda girl. Nope. That wasn't me. (well, yes I was at one time, but not last March. Up until November of 08 I was.. and man, was it fun.) A year ago, I was pregnant. and on March 26th of 2009, I made a list of my top five favorite things about being pregnant.

Top Five

I have been mentally making a list of all the thing I love about being pregnant in my head for awhile. So here it is... my top five favorite things about being Prego.


5. Seeing other pregnant women on the street gives you a real reason to stare at their belly. First for a little moment of "whooo.... I'm glad I'm not that big" to "I wonder how far long she is." I do love this. It's my license to stare card. And she in return doesn't look at me like a stalker. She's probably thinking the same dang thing about me.


4. Stretchy pants. Good God. How have I lived my whole life not wearing stretchy pants? I can bend over without a button cutting into my navel. I can breath when I sit down (except on the days my undies roll down with the belly.) I just think these stretchy belly pants are a fab way to feel pretty!


3. My 20 pound weight loss. I know. I break the rules with this. But when that stick said "pregnant" I vowed to change my eating habits. I figured my baby needed to be smart (you know with a teacher mom and all) so I started eating fresh fruits and veggies. Now losing that glass of wine can't hurt either, and you won't see me eating nothing but good stuff, but I did change alot about how I ate. I still crave hot wings and strawberry milkshakes, but for the most part, I will take real strawberries over the milkshake any day.


2. The cutest dang clothes for her. I am glad I am teaching after school tutorial. That money has come in handy. I have done really well with just cheap stuff. And people that say"you will not want to spend on yourself anymore" don't know me. I buy for her, I buy for me. We both have to look good, right? Poor Scott.


1. And the last reason I like being prego... no, its not all the attention, or the free pass to be gassy, or the excuse to be really lazy, it's just the fact at how it has changed Scott and I already. Before, it wouldn't bother me to go out without him or spend time with my friends when he was home, but now... I look forward to the time we have by ourselves. I know it is going by fast, this time it is just Nikki and Scott, and I want to savor it all I can. I want Lucy Clare in the most loving environment. I want her to feel the love between the two of us.


So, this was no David Letterman countdown, but I do love being pregnant. I can't wait to hold sweet Lucy Clare in my arms for the first time. She is going to be one spoiled girl, just like her momma.



I cannot believe a year has already gone by. For almost 9 months I have been the mother to the most amazing, wonderful, precious baby girl. She is growing before my eyes, and I can't stop it! I look back on my #1 thing I loved about being pregnant and it almost brings me to tears. Scott and I have changed completely as a couple. I see him in such a different way now. He is such a generous, loving father to Lucy, and so patient and loving with me. I asked him the other day about the day she was born and how he felt. He said he looked at her and thought.. "now what do I do!?" He was so nervous and scared, but he has turned into the most amazing father. I love him more and more each day. She is the light of our lives.


As I lift her up in prayer each night in her crib, I feel like God must laugh at me (in a nice God-ly kinda way) when I ask Him if He just knows how much I love her! While I know He does know how much I love her, I know His love for the both of us is so much more powerful, and that alone can bring me to tears.

"See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are!" 1 John 3:1