Wisley's Life

AND I'm Back!

2012-01-14T06:44:00.000-08:00

I sometimes don't know why I blog, and then when I don't blog I wondered why I don't blog. I think for me it is just the lack of time and maybe I feel my life just isn't interesting enough to keep updating it weekly. So I will go on Blogging once every couple of months. It has been 2 months since my last update.
Jake is his usual rambunctious 2 year old self. Sometimes I look at him and think he is 3, but really only because the kid is wearing 3T clothes and isn't even 2.5 yet. He gets it from daddy. There is no way my short self produced tall hefty children. We finally got him into a twin bed a few days after Christmas. He was climbing out of his crib a lot so we knew it was time for him. It wasn't hard convincing him to sleep in his new bed. We dressed it up with tractor sheets and his new Moose Pillow pet. Jake has been an excellent sleeper for us since he was 6 months. He rarely wakes up in the middle of the night unless he is sick. Our only struggle with him are mornings and the early hour he wakes up. Bed time has always been about 7:30 or at the latest 8pm for him. He has been waking up at 5:45 or 6am for the last couple of weeks. The first week he would run into our room and feel around for me waking me up out of a dead sleep. One morning I remember feeling little hot hands all over my face. I had no idea what was going on so I began flailing my arms around as if to try to swat away a swarm of bugs. I have been walking him back to his bed and telling him not to get up until we come and get him. I also put a clock in his room and have been showing him what 7:00 looks like so he has a time he is allowed to get out of his bed. I don't mind getting up at 6am, but not to start my day because Jake gets me out of bed. I would love to get up at 6am and read, journal, pray for an hour before I start my day. It always better prepares me for my very busy days with two busy boys during these long, cold winter months. Yesterday morning I woke up hearing a milk thudding noise. I found Jake in his bathroom playing in a sink filled to the top with bubbles. He had dumped an entire bottle of a travel sized baby shampoo bottle in the sink and ran the water for who knows how long. That was at 5:50am. He said he was brushing his teeth! I hoped it wasn't with the soap!
January and February are rough months for me. Winter is just too long and being stuck inside our tiny house all day long makes us all a little bonkers. Last winter Jake and I went out nearly everyday for a walk even when it was 20 degrees. This year I have only been out a handful of times if it is below 40. Having a 9 month who can't crawl around on the wet, cold and muddy or snowy ground makes it hard. I have a hiking carrier I can carry him with but he is pretty heavy after 30 min. Jake has been good about playing outside with Max by himself. He either stays in the backyard or in the garage. He loves the snow! I enjoy watching him run around with Max laughing when Max chases him and knocks him into the snow.
Jake has discovered the movie CARS and is in love! We got him Mator and Lightening cars for Christmas and Grandma Shari got him the movie. He asks me everyday to watch Lightening. When I say "No, not today" he usually responds by saying, "my love Lightening." I love the sentences that come out of his mouth! I understand most everything he says and if I don't have a clue Jake usually tries to say it a different way. One time he was trying to say the name of an animal and I was clueless! He knew I didn't know what he was saying so he started making the sound the animals makes to help me out! I was impressed at how he thought to do that.
Short update on Wade. He started taking his first steps the day he turned 9 months! I try not to encourage my babies to grow up too fast but I do love it when they start walking early! He has been practicing for 2 weeks today and as of 2 days ago he walks more than he crawls now. It is so funny to watch because he is still so little to me. He has great balance, just like his mommy.
I haven't moved Wade into Jake's room yet. With Jake waking up at 6am I don't want Wade being woken up when he usually sleep until 7-7:30am. I would love to have them together now but want to give Jake a little time to learn that he isn't supposed to get up before 7am. It wouldn't surprise me if I found Jake in Wade's crib waking up his brother so he had someone to play with.
Well boring update but I feel better now that I have at least written something. I wish i had pictures. Our camera stopped holding a battery charge so I have no new pictures to post until we get a new camera.

Christmas Time is Coming...

2011-11-14T11:50:00.000-08:00

Time for children goes by much slower than it does for an adult. As a kid I felt like Christmas and my Birthday were never going to get here! I waited, and waited and waited until it was finally here! Now I don't wish for my Birthday to come as quickly, and although I love the Christmas season I dread the Christmas shopping. I made a wish list and a gift list this year...a first for me. I typically do my shopping last minute and whenever people ask me what I want, my mind goes blank. I can't seem to think up "things" that I want. Most times I am happy to just get some cash or a gift card that I can store away for a time that I find something that interests me. Gift giving is fun and even more fun when you give a gift that someone will treasure and love! I guess one of the reasons I don't like to shop for gifts is that I never seem to find that perfect gift.
I am really looking forward to this Christmas. This will be the first Christmas that one of my boys will be old enough to open a gift and be excited about what is inside. I remember the excitement my sister's and me had growing up as we opened our gifts. My parents have a video recording of me and my sister Heather opening our "Lady Lovely Locks Dolls" and the dorky way of celebrating our new play toys. I also remember sheepishly hitting the box that held my brand new pair of roller skates because I didn't know how else to react about the one gift that I dreamed about opening on Christmas morning. My toothless smile doing all it could to keep itself from revealing the black hole in my mouth because I was more excited about those skates than I wanted to make known to everyone.
Christmas just isn't the same for me anymore. I cherish the time I spend with my parents, sister's, brother-in-laws, sister-in-laws and Joe's parents and the new traditions I will make with my husband and sons on Christmas morning. I'm sure gift giving will always be part of that tradition in my family.
Christmas is a time for me to think about how little I need and how much more I can give. I live a comfortable life and have plenty of stuff. Gaining more stuff isn't going to make me happier. If Jesus was to come up to me after Christmas and ask me a question I can't hear him asking, "what did you get for Christmas?" He would probably ask me what I gave people in need for Christmas.
Yes I will do what I always do around the holidays. Buy a real tree, decorate it with my family while listening to The Carpenters or Amy Grant, make Christmas cookies, gain weight, wrap gifts, and open them on Christmas morning, travel to visit parents and siblings, go to 2 or 3 Christmas parties that you don't have time for but squeeze them in anyway, and when all is finished take a deep breath and be glad that I have a whole year before I have to do it all over again.

the girls all grown up!

2011-10-14T10:22:00.000-07:00

I know you all may not know the ladies in this picture so I will introduce you. From the left. Nicola my cousin from my mom's brother. Love her to pieces! We are a few years apart in age and grew up together. She is like a sister to me! In many ways we are a lot alike.
Krista who is Nicola's older sister. She was born the same year as me. She is also like a sister to me. She can be a goof ball which is one of the things I love best about her. She is also like a sister to me. We grew up playing with barbies, and playing dress up.
Heather -The Bride- My dear sister two years younger. We have an understanding of each other. I am very blessed to have had a sister close to me in age. We shared so many things, some not willingly. I remember our nasty fights, but more so I remember our good talks in our room before bed. We loved to play together and laugh together. We became really good at belching the ABC's. I know, weird, but that is who we are, weird. Lot's of people don't get our humor and may think it is dumb or obnoxious, but we are secure in who we are and so long as no one gets hurt we enjoy a good laugh.
Kim - my other sister 7 years younger. I never thought I would develop such a deep and close relationship with a sister 7 years younger than me. I think the younger siblings are almost forced to grow up faster as I notice Kim maturing much faster than I did. She has been married for a year and a half to a man of God. Love her goofy, fun loving personality. Kim and I also have a special connection and understanding that I hope we never let go of. There is something special about a baby sister. Though young I still learn things from her. She went from the annoying younger sister that was ganged up on by Heather and me to a confident and caring person that I have come to admire.
My most cherished memories are with one or all of these lovely ladies. I wish I lived closer to them. There is nothing better than a sister and cousins that feel like sister's!

Poop!

2011-09-25T16:40:00.000-07:00

My best poop story was when I dropped poop out of a dirty diaper right next to Jake when he was around 7 months and he grabbed it in both hands and tried to eat it. that was gross.
Well, Friday after I got home from MOPS I put Jake down for a nap and didn't bother to put a pull-up or even underwear on him since he just peed and I thought he had pooped at the church that morning. Ten minutes into his nap he called me in and told me he pooped. It was only a little so I cleaned him up really fast and told him to go to sleep. 30 min go by and he was very quiet. I start to hear him chit chatting and walked in his room to find his mattress, his hands, his feet, and the bed rails covered in poop! Not only that but he managed to pull his pull-up off and throw it on the floor with a big clump of poop! I guess once you are potty trained you don't like the feel of poop on your butt and he thought he could clean it off himself!
I only wish I had taken a picture of his poop painted bed to show you just how gross it was! The only thing that would have made this even worse would be poop in his hair!

Things I wish I were better at, or knew how to do it.

2011-09-16T08:06:00.000-07:00

There are some things that I really struggle with and thought it might make for a interesting blog. (I'm trying to work my way out of the boring blogger category)!

I like making lists because they really reduce stress for me. I always have a list of some sort. Grocery lists, To Do Lists, Wish Lists...etc. As good as I am with making lists I am not the greatest at completing them. I may have a to do list but won't get it done until weeks later, or have a grocery list but forget to bring it with me, therefore resulting in a couple of trips to the store rather than one.

I like to stay organized and keep a clean house. Keeping the house clean isn't that hard for me. I just do my best to stay on top of laundry one day per week and make sure the kitchen is cleaned every night before bed. Vacuuming and sweeping is a must every other day because of how anal I am about dirty floors and when you have a dog your floors can really never be considered clean enough. Organizing is one thing I would like to be better at. I find myself re-organizing things frequently, which isn't always a bad thing but it certainly uses up a lot of time I could spend learning something new. My biggest disaster is trying to keep all my documents and random papers organizied rather than left on my counter tops. I really hate clutter! I would be perfectly happy if the only things I my counters were my kitchen aid mixer, coffee maker and cutting board. Clean counters look so nice! I know how to organize, I am just too lazy to get it done. Which brings me to another thing I am horrible at.
I am a procrastinator! Especially with things like studying, preparing for a class, getting a project done, making phone calls, trying to learn something new, getting my lists done, reading a book(unless it is so good I can't put it down). I don't know why I procrastinate because I like to see things get done and it stresses me out when I put it off. Why would I want to add more stress to life when I have plenty of time to do it? Strange isn't it?
I would also like to be a better host. I like to be hospitable, but I feel like I suck at it. I am a horrible planner. Most stuff happens at the last minute and since I don't prepare myself for last minute events I don't want to be hospitable because I have nothing to offer anyone. Mostly food that is. I never seem to have the right foods stocked away for last minute opportunities for me to have people over. I really like making people feel welcome so this is the one thing I am really working on improving becsuse relationships are more important than getting a stupid list done.
I am also horrible with relationships. I love people! I know it doesn't always seem that I do because I am mostly an introvert but being married to an extrovert can change you a little when he wants to be around people all the time. I recharge when I have alone time. Joe recharges when he hangs out with people. This is a good thing. I want to have people in my life but because I tend to hide in my cave sometimes I feel a little intimidated to come out and socialize. I really have to force myself to come out of my shell. I am typically a very open person and know how to have a conversation, but there is something about relationships that causes me to freeze up. I have always wanted to have that one friend that I feel I can share just about anything with, who I can pray with, call when I am hurting, have similar interests and share the same beliefs about different things. Sounds almost impossible right? Like I have made up this perfect girlfriend that doesn't really exist and I keep searching for her. I have great friends. I have imperfect friends and I myself and imperfect so why am I looking for that perfect relationship? Maybe it is because of all the movies I watch and we all know that most movies are a fantasy. Kind of like watching a sex scene in a movie. Not that I have a habit of doing so, but I will not lie and say that I haven't seen a sex scene. Sex is always protrayed as this mind blowing, going to have an orgasm multiple times per night, always incredible, never disappointing... you get my drift, unless you are a virgin of course(please stay a virgin until you are married). Sex is great, but not always like the movies make it look. Same with a lot of things.
Wow, that one was a long one. I might like some feedback on that one if you have something profound to say or are in the same boat as me. Bottom line, if you are my friend and consider me a good friend I consider you a great friend too. I don't know how else to put it. I don't want those who are my friends to feel like you have disappointed me. I think I just disappoint myself in how I preceive my relationships. I don't get the girl bonding time that I so desire I guess is all I am saying.
I would like to be better at giving people compliments. Joes' main love language is words of affirmation. I might think he is amazing, and hot, and my hero, but it means nothing when i keep those thoughts to myself. I need to do a better job at telling him how great I think he is. I want to give other people compliments too. I want people to feel good about themselves, to know that I approve of them and love them, and think they are beautiful!
I wonder if other introverts struggle with the same things that I do. I bet they do, but sometimes I feel like I just suck and everyone else is great! I say this as a way to poke fun at myself. Not having a pity party, or seeking out a self-esteem boost. I am a pretty secure person, just wondering.
The last thing I can think of that could use some improvement is planning parties. Sometimes I think parties are dumb. I like to get together with people, but planning birthday parties is such a drag for me. I would rather someone else plan the party and tell me what to bring rather than doing the planning myself. I lack creativity. I just recently threw a small party for Jake. I planned dinner, and made a tractor cake. Invited a few people and asked them not to bring gifts. No decorations, just a simple dinner with cake. Boring right?! Hopefully I will get better at this as the kids get older but at the same time I don't want them to expect every birthday to be this big production with tons of decorations. Growing up we had small family parties and sometimes invited a few close friends. My mom would let us pick our meals for the day. Mine was usually some sort of sugary cereal or swedish pancakes. Lunch was usually something like mac and cheese, and dinner was usually BBQ Chicken with white rice. I loved rice and still do! Yum! We were able to pick out what kind of cake we wanted and got a present or two. Rarely would we let our guest buy us presents. I remember being annoyed at my mom for telling people not to bring presents, but now here I am doing the same thing!
Wow. I am bad at a lot of stuff. Maybe I should start a another list and this list will be stuff I am good at cause now I feel like a loser! Ha ha ha ha! Not Really. Just being open and honest about myself.

"How to Land your Kid in Therapy" by The Atlantic

2011-09-15T10:08:00.000-07:00

Several weeks back our minister at church read a paragraph from an article that intrigued me and I asked him if I could have a copy of the article. He gave me his but I found it online too and wanted to share it with you. Feel free to comment whether you agree or not. Here it is if you are interested in reading it.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/07/how-to-land-your-kid-in-therapy/8555/

He's 2, but not terrible!

2011-09-13T18:43:00.000-07:00

Really? I have a two year old? Someone pinch me cause I don't feel like 2 years has gone by already!
I love this kid though! He lights up my life and gives me more JOY than I ever thought a kid could give me!

Jake has taught me a lot about being a mom!
I thought it would be fun to write about those things I have learn over the last two years being Jake's mom.
1. Hold my tongue when it doesn't matter. This one's is referring to keeping my opinion to myself when it doesn't matter. I've learned to accept others in the way they raise their kids. I am learning to have good relationships with others despite our differences.
2. Always check water temp before putting your kid into the tub!
3. Go on dates with Joe as often as possible! This one keeps Joe and I sane! If we start getting grouchy we know that we need a date night and try to go on one at least once every couple of weeks!
4. Breastfeeding is great cause it's free and so much easier that bottle feeding but when I stopped breastfeeding Jake around 12 months my hormones made a return for the better and our sex life went from good to great! I will be glad when Wade is weened in about 6 months!
5. Time to myself is a requirement! I have done a really bad job at this one! I can sort of consider the boys 2-3 hour nap time to be that time but hardly since I am usually doing housework during that time. I need to find ways of getting out more with my girlfriends!
6. It's nice to have a dog as a vacuum! He saves me from having to clean up having lots of food messes! I would rather have to vacuum dog hair ever other day than have to clean oatmeal or sticky rice off the floor
7. Disciplining with love, a calm heart and not raising my voice. I do this so much better than I thought I ever would! I have a temper. Not a terrible one, but when I am annoyed with repetitive foolishness my heart rate increases and I have worked really hard at being firm without raising my voice and remaining calm!
8. Praying for and with my kids on a daily basis has helped my personal prayer life grow! I have always struggled to be consistent in my conversation with God and having kids has taught me to stay more consistent as I pray often with them.
9. Finding ways to be more frugal by way of garage sales, couponing, and borrowing from others!
10. kids forgive a lot faster than adults do! I've messed up as a mom plenty of times and amazed by how quickly Jake moves on when hurt his feelings.
11. Always keep pants on a toddler when going down for a nap so you don't have a poopie mess to clean up later!
12. shopping for my kids is way more fun than for myself!
13. I never thought I would enjoy watching Elmo's world.
14. Kids hear, see and understand a whole lot more than we give them credit for!
15. I drink more coffee now than ever before!

He doesn't know it yet but Jake really has changed me in so many ways! I certainly don't want to get any older but I really do look forward to seeing him grow older and getting to develop more and more of a relationship with him.
Here he is! My favorite 2 year old! Isn't he a stud!

Boring Blogger!

2011-09-08T11:10:00.000-07:00

Yep I am one of those people. I blog only when I feel excited about something and then disappear for a few months. I wish I liked to blog more, but I have been way too busy to even try right now.
To fill you in a little on the last couple of months.
We(my boys and me)just returned home this Labor Day evening from my parents house up in Northern IL. We were there for 10 whole days living it up on their new cute lake home! I can't say that it was relaxing, as traveling with two kids can be hectic, but it was so nice to be with family for those 10 days. We have only been up north twice this year and this was Joe's first time there since January! Joe and I were able to get away for 1/2 a day in southern Wisconsin to go mountain biking on some really awesome single track trails and spend an afternoon out on a speed boat skiing and tubing. Jake LOVED tubing with us! He showed no expression of course, but when we were done he kept saying, "more tubing!" I got up on ski's for the first time in a decade along with my sister Heather and bro-in-law Ben! It is not as fun as tubing for me. Skiing takes too much skill and I have a few bruises that show I am not as good as I once was. On the other hand Joe and John(my sister's husband as of this past Sunday), thought they would both give skiing their first try. Poor guys were unable to get out of the water and suffered with inner groin pulls for the next couple of days as a result. Maybe next time you guys will show up the girls in something! Ha ha ha ha!
My sister Heather is now married to a wonderful guy! The wedding turned out to be a perfect outdoor wedding and our family is complete! No more sister's to be married! Yahoooooo! That also means no more weddings for me to be in! Double Yahooooooo! I like weddings, and I liked being in both my sister's weddings, but I am free of feeling obligated to being in any more weddings.
Now that we are home I am focusing on organizing the house room by room. My amazing husband built a huge set of sturdy wood shelves in our garage for me to be able to clean out my overly- cluttered closets to make room for things that belong in closets. Now I just have to figure out what all needs to come out and then go in those closets!
Next week is Jake's 2nd birthday. Since I am not a party planner and not into having lots of people over for birthday's don't feel bad if you didn't get an invitation. We like things small and simple! I am going to attempt to make a fun tractor cake for Jake!
I will try to post some pictures soon and update my header picture!

Lots of stuff happening here!

2011-08-15T09:08:00.000-07:00

Summer camp has come to a close so it is so quiet here compared to the last 12 weeks! I miss it already but am relieved for Joe who has put so much of himself into camp! It is tired and in need of rest to revive himself from a long, hard but wonderful summer! We couldn't say enough about our summer staff this summer! They worked so hard and made this one of our best summers! So now we still continue to work hard but at a different pace. We still have rental groups on a weekly basis and school groups are coming in for a day of team building.
Jake , Wade and I enjoyed all of our time out and about walking around the camp, having meals with the campers, making new friends, swimming in the pool, visiting my mom and dad north of Chicago in their new home, enjoying spending time with Joe's brother and wife who are moving here to work at the camp with us!
I have been working on Potty Training Jake this past week. He has done awesome! Everyone tells me how hard it is for boys but he proved the rumors wrong! In less than a day I had him peeing in the toilet and on day four was pooing in the toilet! I am relieved to be done buying him diapers, and with Wade in Cloth that means I spend a lot less each month! More money for our vacation to Puerto Rico this coming January!
Well this is short and sweet! I haven't had internet at my house for about two weeks, which in a way has been nice!
Blessings!

New Lives Reborn

2011-06-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

Our second week of summer camp here at Rainbow is over and it feels like we are already a month into it. I am glad we aren't since I love walking over to the camp everyday and seeing the campers having the time of their lives! I wish I had grown up going to summer camp. I think I only went once when I was in 7th grade. If you live in Indiana or even the Chicago area look us up at rainbowcamp.org We have camps for kids K-12 and we aren't too far of a drive. I remember taking a coach bus from Chicago to Fort Wilderness Camp with my friend Melissa. It took 6 hours to get there so distance shouldn't be an excuse to keep your kids from coming to a place that could change their life! We are only about a 3 hours drive from the center of Chicago!
This week was a crazy one! We had 4 different weeks of camp going on at the same time. Princess Camp, Jump, Jungle Huts and Mad Camp! Let's just say that the cafeteria was full of rambunctious campers who were having more fun than a pig rolling in the mud!
Joe and I are so passionate about what happens here at the camp. It is so much more than a summer camp. Camp is just camp for some people. For Rainbow it is a place for kids to fall more in love with Jesus or to fall in love for the first time with Jesus! That is why Joe and I came here! It's not just about giving kids a good time, but helping them see God move and realize how much they need him! At the end the week we had 6 campers take the plunge in our pool to commit their lives to Christ by Baptism!

To our Supporters:
God brought Joe and I here for a reason and before we left our previous homes and jobs I did not realize how much more of a mission we were going to be involved in. It is big! Thanks to all who support us by prayer and giving. We wouldn't be here without you! God has shown himself in some pretty big ways since we have been at the camp and has tested us in many as well! Blessings!

Where's the JOY?

2011-06-13T10:15:00.000-07:00

I feel something pulling and tugging on my heart these last several weeks. It makes me uncomfortable and sometimes makes me cry. I can't help but feel my heart beat faster and harder and then this uncontrollable explosion of "I don't know what" takes place and I don't know what to do with it. Is this God speaking to me? Is it the Holy Spirit trying to get me to see something that I am missing out on? Is it perhaps just my hormones from having a baby a few months ago trying to find a balance? I don't have a response but I feel like I can put my finger on what I should put my focus and energy into.
Finding JOY!
Not that I don't have any. I have felt rather joyful lately, but do I have enough of it? Does my joy stand out? Would my friends look at me and describe me as joyful? I hope so but I doubt it. I have a few friends that I could describe as joyful and I love them for that because it helps me stay upbeat! They don't have perfect lives or perfect pasts. As a matter of fact their pasts are much less joyful than what my past was for me. I have never experienced any kind of tragedy, or any kind of loss. I have watched many others suffer from awful things that would probably cause me to fall into a deep depression. I can't say that I have ever been truly depressed about anything. I have been sad and angry about many things. I have gotten over them quickly because they were small things. Small enough that I should not have been sad or angry for any longer than a day. Am I lucky or am I blessed? I'm not sure I would be classified as either but in a way it scares me to view myself as lucky or blessed. The reason it scares me so much is because I feel too lucky sometimes and hope that there isn't some tragedy waiting for me to have to live through, to cry over, to mourn over, and have to find beauty in the pain. I don't think I would be strong enough so rather than worry about what could happen, I want to focus on the JOY that I have now!
The kind of joy that is so hard to understand! The joy that fills the face of the one who lost a husband to cancer. The joy that fills the faces of the children in other countries that lose both parents to a disease and find enough joy in them to pass their joy onto others. The joy that fills the hearts of a mother and father who hold their newborn twin baby boys long enough to say goodbye. The joy that fills the room with singing and dancing by a group of children who have nothing left but the love of Christ.
I don't understand it because I have never been in their shoes. I try to think about what it must be like. It pains me some to think about how a person must feel to go through the rest of life with the memory of someone they loved so much. Even knowing they will see them again one day in heaven, it can't be easy to find that JOY.
Last night I had the opportunity for the 2nd time to see the African Children's Choir sing at our church. They bring so much JOY with them. I am almost embarrassed by the amount of joy they have compared to what little joy I have. I wanted to get up on stage and sing and dance with them and share in the joy they have! To Celebrate with them in the joy that God gives them! Thanks to these kids so many people left last night with an idea of what true joy looks like in the smiles and eyes of those who have lost so much at such a young age.
Joy...I want more of it and I pray my joy can increase without having to experience the pain so many people I know have had to live through to find it.

Heaven Is For REAL!

2011-05-15T17:13:00.000-07:00

I just finished one of the best books I have ever read today called, "Heaven is for Real" by Todd Burpo. It is a true story of a 3.5 year old boy name Colton who gets really sick and ends up having to be operated on to clean out his insides. He was near death and the doctors were sure he wasn't going to make it. After the boy miraculously pulls through and is sent home, months later Colton begins telling his mom and dad about meeting Jesus in Heaven as well as several other people related to his parents he didn't even know about which proved more that Colton really had visited the eternal place. Over the course of months and years, Colton describes Heaven and Jesus to his parents just as it is described in the Bible, but from a child's eyes and in his own words. It is almost unbelievable to me, but at the same time completely believable. I highly recommend this book! It is a quick and easy read! I was reminded of what a child-like faith looks like and made me look forward to getting to see heaven with my own eyes even more! I hope you get the chance to read it for yourself!

Mom's don't have one Title

2011-05-08T12:30:00.000-07:00

Mommy's have more than one title! (No offense to all your hard working dad's out there who do a good job at many of these things too)!

Housekeeper - if it doesn't get done by mom it probably won't get done at all and then you will end up living in a heap.

Nurse - I loved playing nurse when I was little and I am still doing it now. Alwaya trying to figure out and diagnose the symptoms and how I can fix it before go to the doctor

Chef - a love/hate title for me but again, who else is going to stuff those little faces with good food to eat.

Comforter - Kids fall down a lot and it's MOM TO THE RESCUE!

Friend - I like to think that my kids will look at me as more than just the person who says "NO" all the time but a person they came come to with anything and trust that I will love them no matter what

Peacemaker/Judge - My time is coming when I will settle my boys first fight over something.

I'm sure you could add some of your own to the list. What are they? Love to all my mom friends. You have all impacted me in some pretty amazing ways!

My blue eyed boys

2011-05-07T17:56:00.000-07:00

Sorry some of the pictures are sideways! I am too lazy to go back and change them for ya!

God Loves Terrorists Too!

2011-05-02T17:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, so maybe not the post you will REALLY want to read today. I certainly didn't want to make a big fuss over Bin Laden's death but I was also not affected by the horrible event that was caused by him on Sept 11th, or all the other crappy things that Bin Laden has done. He was an evil man and thankfully he is no longer on this earth to harm anyone else. However, as a follower of Christ I look at his death as a lesson to learn to forgive our enemies because Christ died for Bin Laden too. We are called to forgive our enemies just as Christ forgives us for the evil things that we do. Thankfully God is a gracious and merciful God so long as we are willing to except it and repent. I truly hope that I see Bin Laden in heaven when I make it there one day. Of course the things he did was cruel and he should be punished for them, but I hope he had the chance to make a change of heart. I don't wish Hell on anyone!
As I write this my oldest son is sitting on the couch laughing at Looney Toons. He is so precious to me! I can't imagine the pain and even more, the hate I would have to deal with in my heart if one of my family members was killed as a result of a terrorist attack. I would have to dig real deep to find forgiveness for the person who could do such a crime so I am not saying that those Bin Laden has hurt should have an easy time forgiving the guy cause I would have a difficult time doing so myself. Though I can't ignore what Christ says about forgiveness.
As too how I feel about our countries response to this happy and yet sad event in time:
I am proud of our country for finding the guy and doing a great job of protecting us from more harm, but sometimes I wish America would get off it's high horse and realize that we aren't better than everyone else. We are a strong country and I am thankful to live in it, but we have a lot of garbage in this country that needs to be cleared out too. I am not so sure about how we celebrated the death of a man who God loves just as much as he loves the rest of his people. Evil still prevails in our country. I am indifferent about executions that take place in jails. I am not saying I disagree with them, I am not sure where I stand with them. They seem cruel to me, but at the same time I don't want people like that to roam the streets with the potential to do awful things. Bin Laden was a very sick man that needed to die. I am glad he is dead, but sad for him as well.
In conclusion, yeah God for wiping out our enemies and also for the grace you give to those who don't deserve it!
"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."
--Martin Luther King, Jr.

Guilty Pleasures!

2011-04-27T16:27:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the idea "Midnight Oil Mama" on this post! I enjoyed reading your guilty pleasures and I have been trying to think of a good blog title that wasn't a family update so here it is!
So here are some of my guilty pleasures! feel free to join in on the fun and tell us some of your so we can all have a little laugh!

1) Sugar Addiction - I love sugar and it doesn't matter what the food is. If it has sugar in it I will probably like it. People think that I never eat crap because they know I used to be a personal trainer, but they are so wrong! I probably eat my weight or more in sugar ever year! Horrible, I know, but lately I have had a hard time saying no to it!

2)"Desperate Housewives" - I almost chose not to put this one down since it is probably my biggest guilty pleasure. I got hooked on it watching re-runs on Lifetime TV when Jake was a baby when I had nothing to do during the winter afternoons. Every time I watch it I feel like I have to justify watching it by telling myself there is no harm in watching a little night time soap opera, but then the show took a turn for the worse and since then I have stopped, but I still wonder who "so and so" ended up with and whether or not Susan and Mike moved back to Wisteria Lane.

3) My Big City Girl Roots! - I would rarely admit it but I am proud to be from a big city like Chicago. Sure there is traffic, rude people, loud planes are always flying over your house and you can literally have a conversation with your next door neighbor while each of you are sitting inside a part of the house since the houses are built 10 feet apart. I remember catching our creepy, old and cranky neighbor watching us from her window while we played in our back yard. (we got used to not having any privacy).
You get used to all the negative things about living in the city. In a way I feel like being a city girl thickened my skin a little. You just learn to deal with all the stress the city throws at you. I love city food, even the crowds of people at times, and if I paid any attention to sports what better teams to love than the Cubs and Bears! In some way it makes me happy to hear people tell me that I still have a little bit of my Chicago accent left in me! Of course I would never move back to the city but I am still proud of where I come from.

4) Twilight Saga - Yes, I too love the Twilight saga. Besides Harry Potter(which could be another one of my guilty pleasures) I have never read through a series of books as fast as I did Twilight series! The books are thrilling, and leaves my heart pitter pattering as I read about the the strong love relationship between Edward and Bella. Okay I will also admit that I started out rooting for Edward but ended up switching sides and falling in love with Jacob. I don't know exactly why but I guess Ware wolves just seem a little less gay than a blood sucking, pale white and scrawny vampire.

5)`The smell of Weed - not just weeds as in, the weeds in your yard, but the stuff you smoke. Okay, now you are wondering how I know what weed smells like. Yes I have smoked weed before and I will not be doing that again. I was dumb in high school and we all do things we regret, whether it was talking bad behind someone's back or lying to our best friend. It made me very sick and I am glad it did cause I never did it again. But I do love the smell of it and one of the best places to go too to get that wonderful smell stuck in your clothes is any kind of rock concert. I remember going to two different Creed concerts in college and there was a lot of weed smoking going on during those concerts. I didn't wash my sweatshirt for weeks after that concert! It was like sitting around a campfire when all that wonderful camp smoke soaks into the fibers of your clothes. Some people would think I am crazy to like the smell of camp fire smoke. Now you think I am even more crazy for liking the smell of an illegal drug! Whatever... you can judge me if you'd like, but hey, at least I don't go and smoke it just so I can get a wiff of it!

6) Rice - that's right! I love that starchy carb more than any other. I could eat a whole pot of it in one sitting! I love it almost as much as I love sugar! Why? I don't know. I ate it a lot as a kid so maybe that is why.

7) Christian Bale - OKAY let me first explain that Joe and I had a conversation one day about our movie star crushes and we agreed to allow the other one movie star crush that the other couldn't get jealous about cause we both know neither one of us would ever have a chance, nor would we ever leave each other for our movie star crush(wow. was that a run on sentence?). So my movie star crush is Christian Bale. I loved him in Newsies and when I found out he was going to be the new Batman I was very excited. He is the perfect Batman! I only wish he was in more musicals since he has a great singing voice! Joe's movie star crush is Carrie Underwood in case you were wondering, but since she got married she is spoken for so now I don't know who her replacement would be?

I do have more but they really aren't worth blogging about.

I think that about does it! This was fun! Now I want to know some of yours!

If you like Coconut, try this cake!

2011-04-10T10:32:00.000-07:00

Coconut Cake

Bake a box of white cake mix and let cool completely. With a fork, poke a bunch of holes in it and pour a can of Eagle's Brand sweetened condensed milk all over the cake. Put in the fridge and chill.
For the frosting mix a tub of cool whip and 8 oz of coconut cream(found in the non-alcoholic section of the alcohol aisle). Make sure you mix the can of coconut cream before you mix it in with the cool whip since the liquid sits at the bottom of the can. Spread all over top of cake and sprinkle with sweetened coconut flakes(opt). Serve cold! It is soooooo yummy!

First week with Two

2011-04-08T18:05:00.000-07:00

Wade is a week old today! It is so sad to me how quickly babies grow up. Sure he is still a little guy but I can't believe how fast a week goes by. I have to admit the first couple of days without my family here helping me out was a little scary. I remember being pretty emotional when I had Jake after my mom left. Having a new baby is no simple task the first week, especially when you have a toddler who is so used to having you all to himself 24/7. It has been even more of an adjustment for him than for me. I felt guilty the first couple of days when I had to put Wade's needs over Jake. Jake is my number one pride and joy and I missed it when it was just Jake and me. I don't feel that way anymore but let me tell ya, the first couple of days I literally felt like a bad mom for telling Jake he had to go play by himself because I had to feed Wade...again. I think he is starting to get it now. Sure he still whines about it from time to time, but I think he understands that Wade gets hungry and needs me to take care of him.
Wade is a great baby! He still sleeps a lot and that has been wonderful. I hope he keeps it up! He has been an easy baby to nurse and so far no issues with throwing up like Jake did. From day one Wade has been sleeping about 5 hours into the night before he wakes up to eat. Getting up once throughout the night is nothing to complain about. I think Jake was more of an every 3 hours at night baby for the first several weeks. I am wondering if Wade has been able to go longer since he was a whole pound heavier than Jake when he was born. Anyway...it hasn't been that difficult. My pessimistic side actually expected this week to be worse than it was. I am relieved that I was wrong.
For just having had a baby a week ago I feel absolutely fantastic! I have healed very quickly and love it that I can wrestle around with Jake once again! Thanks to everyone for all your words of encouragement. I am very blessed to have such a supportive group of friends!

Wade Robert's Birth Story

2011-04-02T07:44:00.000-07:00

I am now a mother of TWO! Woa! I don't know what I am going to do with two yet. I can't comprehend what my friends go through who have twins! You parents are super parents!
Well I better get this down while it is still pretty fresh in my mind!
Wednesday night I was enjoying my favorite TV show, Survivor, when I had a really intense contraction. I literally thought I needed to poop so I quietly walked to the bathroom and nothing happened. I didn't want to make a big deal about it since we had two of our interns from camp over and I have had a lot of contractions the last couple of weeks.
Exhausted from a long day of playing with Jake I chose to head to bed early. My day was rather horrible so I had a feeling that I was going to hit hard labor sometime in the night and wanted to get as much rest as possible.
I had two strong contractions at 11:30pm and then again around 1:30am. I got up to go to the bathroom both times and felt better. Sometime between 3:30am-4am I woke up with pretty painful contractions so I began to time them and by 5am they were 5-6 min apart, sometimes closer. I labored for that hour or so without waking Joe. I wanted to make sure that this time it was for real since I had two nights of labor with no progression. By 5 I knew it was the real thing. They were starting to really hurt. I called my mom and dad in Chicago and told them to get here when they could. My mom was going to try to make it for the birth! Next I went to the bedroom and told Joe it was time to have a baby. He called the midwife, gave her the heads up and told her we would call her when we needed her to come. Knowing how long I had labored with Jake I was not expecting things to move along so quickly. Boy was I wrong, and so glad too! We had a friend come pick up Maximus(not supposed to be around when the midwife is here), and then had another friend come pick up Jake around 6:30am and by that time my contractions were intense and on top of each other. I was still able to walk around in between them, but once they hit I would collapse on the bed or couch and try my best to relax every muscle in my body. I decided then it was time to jump in the tub and see if the warm water would help numb the pain a little. 30 min later I was feeling like I needed to push! I couldn't believe I had dilated so quickly! Joe called our midwife to find out where she was and by the time he hung up the phone I couldn't wait any longer. I had to push! After my first push Joe asked, "was that a push?" I don't remember answering him. I just gripped his hands and pushed again and felt the head coming down. A third push and his head was crowning. It was so cool to reach down and touch his head while I waited for that last push. I told Joe to get ready to catch the baby and with one more push Wade was born in the water in our living room and without any help from our midwife. She actually walked in the door about 3 min late and she took over from there. I was able to deliver the after birth without any trouble and Wade took to nursing like a pro within 20 min of being born! I went straight to my herbal bath to get cleaned up while the midwife checked all of Wade's vitals, AGAR score, and measured and weighed him. Joe came to the bathroom to tell me our boy weighed 9 lb 2 oz! I thought it was an early April Fool's joke! I was for sure that he was going to be around 8 lb or less! I must say I never thought I would deliver a baby over 9 lbs. Is it wrong of me to feel proud?
My parents arrived about two hours after Wade was born and I was up and moving around within a few hours with no more than a back ache. Water Births are amazing! I wouldn't do it any other way ever again! I highly recommend them!
The last couple of days have been so easy compared to my first time having a baby. I have had no swelling, very little pain, and had a very small tear. My back has been about as sore as it would be after a hard weight lifting workout.
Wade has been a fabulous nurser and has slept great the first two nights. Jake loves his little brother as much as an 18 month old can understand. He is able to say Wade's name and calls him Bubba as well. I think these two are going to hit it off rather well. I have fallen love all over again! Babies are so precious and a gift from God. Thanks for all your prayers and words of encouragement as we all were waiting for Wade's first appearance. Feel free to come by and visit us!

First Day of Spring and my "slow cooker"

2011-03-20T06:55:00.000-07:00

I am still pregnant! Ugh! I can't tell you how frustrated I was when I waited 21 total days past the day I was told to expect Jake, and now I am once again in the same boat at 13 days past the expected day of arrival. Of course that day is just a date they give you and it doesn't always mean it is going to come even within a few days of it, but for crying out loud! I am so sick of being pregnant. The bending over to pick up everyone's stuff(JAKE!), the constant nesting state that I have been in for the last three weeks, the restless nights of sleep, the not so comfortable intimate moments with my husband, the pressure, the pinched nerves, the low back aches at the end of the day, the elbows and knees that Jake has perfect aim with, all the comments I get from people who I don't know that ask when I am due("why aren't you getting induced?" "you look miserable" etc), never feeling comfortable in any kind of sitting position, going to the bathroom every 30 min. Yeah, the list goes on. If I am not constantly busy or have plans I wait around in sheer boredom and think about what I would be doing if I wasn't pregnant.
Whine Whine Whine. I know I need to grow up and stop complaining. I could be on bed rest and not be able to do anything but lay around listening to my son whine because his mama can't get up and play or take him to the park.
My one perk for not having gone into labor yet is that today is the first day of Spring! I can gladly say that this baby will not be a winter baby. THANK GOODNESS!
I have pretty much everything ready to go. We set up the birthing tub last Tuesday thinking for sure something was going to happen last week. I just love how it has been taking up so much room in my living room!
I have an appointment tomorrow morning with my midwife and really hoping I will not be making that appointment. Seriously Baby! Let's get this party started!

40 week pics

2011-03-13T04:47:00.000-07:00

These were taken a week ago when I was 40 weeks pregnant. I am only 5 days overdue(if my due date was correct) so hold on everyone. This baby will come into the world when it is good and ready. I thought it would be cool to have a baby today(March 13th) because Jake was also born on a Sunday, Sept 13th. There is still time for labor to start and make that happen so we shall see!

Due Date Today...deepest thoughts

2011-03-08T08:56:00.000-08:00

I haven't been sleeping well the last several nights. Always wide awake wondering if tonight is the night the baby will come! All the anticipation makes my hearts race to the point where I start to freak out and all I can do is pray to help me change my mindset. I haven't had very many positive thoughts about having a second child lately. Especially not about the labor part of it. Jake's birth was not a terrible experience but it certainly was not one of my favorite experiences either. At least up until the point he was finally out! I don't look forward to labor for the second time at all! I have to be completely honest about this and tell you that being in pain is not something I tolerate very well. I hate being on my period and that pain is nothing compared to giving birth! I don't even have bad cramps when I am on my cycle! I would rather hike the Appalachian Trail all over again than go through what I am about to go through again. I know that sounds extreme because a 6 months hike shouldn't sound more appealing than a 6 hour labor(if I get lucky with only 6 hours of labor).
You would think I would have a lot more confidence the second time around. I don't. I am more scared this time because I know how bad it hurt and I didn't have another child to care for the first time. Plenty of moms do this and we all get through it, but that hasn't changed my apprehensive heart about what I am truly feeling inside. I know it will all change once the baby is finally here. I don't even know what I am having so I feel no relationship to this new person I have been carrying for 9 months. We have names picked out but I can't even call it by name until I know if it is a boy or girl.
I want to say that I am tough, but I don't feel tough. Most people think I am crazy and "tough" for having a baby at home. I might be crazy, but I am certainly not tough. I know I can get through it. I did it once and I can do it again.
Every birth experience is different from the first and as tired as I am of being pregnant I just never seem to feel ready to go through with it(as if I have a choice). *sigh* I must sound like a big wimp!
Jake is now down for a nap and that is where I am about to head myself. No signs of labor yet! My gut tells me it will be soon though. Pray that I will not have so many negative thoughts and learn to relax when the time comes.

I guess it is time for an update.

2011-02-26T11:00:00.000-08:00

I am now in the middle of my 38thth week of pregnancy. That is exciting for many reasons. One, I look forward to finding out what this little one is going to be in a few short weeks(that is, unless it decides to wait three extra weeks to come out like Jake did). I was sick for a good two weeks this month which didn't allow me to get hardly any sleep at night or even naps during the day. I feel much better now and doing all I can to avoid catching another cold before I have this baby.
Speaking of which...this pregnancy has been a breeze and I was happy to get on the scale yesterday and see that I have only gained 21 pounds, unlike the 37 I gained with Jake. I haven't been trying to control my weight or anything. Seriously... as much of a health freak I usually tend to be, I have been living it up on eating lots of food, not necessarily junk, but just a lot of food. I love food!
Jake is now 17 months old and such a joy to have around! I never knew how much fun it would be to have a kid! Of course I miss my freedom to do what I want whenever I want, but that is a small sacrifice to make to have the chance to raise my very own child and be able to get 100 hugs from him everyday.
Jake has been talking up a storm. The last two weeks his vocabulary has jumped from just a few words to trying to say everything! Of course he doesn't say them correctly but he is trying and his sign language has developed more as well. He loves animals, and making their noises, reading books, playing outside(no matter how cold or nasty it is), playing at day care, crawling all over our dog Max, eating(go figure), watching Baby Einstein and cookie monster, and waking up before the crack of dawn(grrrr!). I can't complain about much when it comes to being a mommy. It would be nice to have a kid that liked to sleep in a little later, but hey, at least he is very comfortable putting himself to sleep in his own bed and doesn't wake up in the middle of the night.
Toddlers are so funny to watch! I wish I had a baby language translator that told me what he was jibber jabbering about. Anytime Jake gets hurt he has no problem yelling at the structure or person that did the deed. He points and says, "that, that, that" over and over again. As much as I treasure these moments now I look forward to when Jake is in his preschool age and we can have more grown up conversations about life. He has become a cuddly little guys as well. He loves to wrap his arms around my neck and hold onto me as long as I will let him. I never thought I would enjoy having my child cling onto me so much since I am not a touchy feely kind of person(unless it is with Joe of course!). I love all the hugs and kisses Jake gives me, and yes, even the times he just wants to be held for no reason other than to be held(right in the middle of trying to get something done).
Onto other topics...
We are in the middle of re-modeling our little double wide trailer. I know it doesn't sound worth the effort or money, but if you have been to our place before you would probably have agreed that we really needed a little more space and a garage. The garage was finished last September thanks to many family members and friends as well as donated materials to get it done! It is so wonderful to have a place to park my van out of the wind, rain and snow. We cut a hole the wall of the house going into the garage for a laundry/mudroom. It is almost finished! I will be so glad to have my washer and dryer back. You don't realize how grateful you are for something until it is taken away from you! I haven't been doing cloth diapers since December because of not having a washer and dryer so it will also be nice to save that money we have been wasting away on disposables. I have to admit it has been nice to not deal with messy diapers that need to be dunked in the toilet and let's not forget the smell! Well, they do save money and that is worth having to put up with the nastiness of them!
My husband has been working his butt off since October trying to work extra jobs to pay for our mortgage on our home in Anderson all while trying to get the remodeling done on the house. Thankfully our home in Anderson is now occupied with another lease to own renter which means Joe can stay home more! I miss him so much when he is gone, but thankful for the sacrifices he had to make to provide for us. I would hate to be in his shoes and have to leave him and Jake at home for 4-5 days at a time, week after week. We made it work and life is pretty much back to normal.
I do have some belly pics to post but can't find the cord for the camera to download them so I will save those for another blog.
Blessings!

America The Comfortable

2011-01-26T03:52:00.000-08:00

It feels so good to be back home on American soil! My recent nine day trip to Haiti proved itself to be difficult in a number of ways for me. I have never been to a third world country besides my four visits to Mexico since I was a high school student. I am not quite sure how to process my thoughts as I write. So much happened and I don't want to bore you will all the petty details.

Our first day consisted of flying to Miami and then to Port Au Prince. Getting my first glance at a third world country from the air threw my emotions into a whirlwind of uncertainties. I had a small picture of what Haiti would look like based upon my husbands last visit over a year ago. Although his last visit was 9 months before the earthquake so this was going to be a new experience for him as well. I was warned of Haitian men crowding around us once we landed and had our bags, not asking if we needed help, but basically grabbing our bags out of our hands so they could get a few bucks out of us. Luckily all I had was a back pack, but my poor husband had two duffel bags that weighed 50lbs each. They were all over him like flies on cow poop! He literally had to elbow a guy off of him and firmly said, "No Merci" a bunch of times. They apparently don't know what NO THANKS means in their own language.

We were happily greeted by a pastor friend of Tina's (missionary we were meeting to work for), who thankfully spoke a little bit of English. I was relieved to have him with us. I felt way out of my comfort zone and we had not even left the airport yet! I was most worried about our crazy and long drive through Port Au Prince and then through the mountains to get to Jacmel where Tina lives. It is really only about a 60 mile drive which typically takes about 2.5-3 hours to get too. This trip took us 4.5 hours and let me tell ya my butt was ready to get off that hard seated mini bus. Our trip through the city was quieter than expected, not the city itself, but the five of us traveling in the van. We sat in awe of the sights, rubble, crowds of people, millions of tarp tents(due to the earthquake), and the nasty, stinky blanket of garbage that covered the streets.

I was already wishing I had never left the ground at the Miami Airport. I was nervous, I felt vulnerable, unsure I would even make it home alive(a little extreme I know), or that this trip would even prove itself to be worthwhile seeing all the damage the country has had to deal with for the last year. It was so hard to feel even a little hope for Haiti. So little progress has been made and before the earthquake even happened they were already a country in a heap of poverty and spiritual warfare. Now people are fighting to survive even more!

During our visit I was able to experience some of the worst driving roads ever as well as a couple of crazy markets where people were selling all kinds of food, clothes, shoes etc. I was also flashed by an old man...YUCK! Tina also took us into one of the tent cities that were basically the size of a soccer field. It was full of tarp tents that had 8 families in each tent. These were not big tents by any means. I chose not to take pictures here because I felt like I was invading these people's lives. My friend and I were immediately greeted by a little 5 years old who held our hands throughout our tour through the tents and when I asked what her name was all she said was, "I want to go home with you!" It broke my heart to hear that since she was only wearing a shirt and was covered in dirt. She was a beautiful little girl!

The biggest and scariest event of our trip happened within the first 24 hours of being there. We borrowed Tina's truck to run an errand and on our way back had a wreck with a two guys on a moped. We had been making a left turn and they came up on our left side and basically T-boned us. The passenger feel off and got up right away, and the driver was down and quickly on his way to hopping up, but when they saw we were white he promptly laid back down and acted as though he was really hurt with the hopes of getting more money out of us. Within less than a minute the truck was surrounded by 50 Haitians, screaming back and forth at each other and at us. We later found out that they were yelling back and forth at each other because half of them recognized the truck to be Tina's truck and to leave us alone because we were friends of Tina's, while the other half were trying to keep the driver on the ground, pretending to be hurt and didn't care if we were friends of Tina's. It was a little terrifying since the four of us in the truck were all white, didn't speak Creole, and all I could think about was, "are these people going to start beating us up?" I seriously felt like we were in one of those movies you watch where the white men get beat up to death while visiting another country. My friend Aggie and I sat in the back seat of the truck, with the windows rolled up and the doors locked praying that Tina would show up soon and get us out of that mess! Within 30 min of Tina showing up and making a few calls to the police the situation was taken care of. It ended up being the moped driver's fault but there was still a court visit that took place as well as helping him cover part of the damage to his moped.

Now that I am home I look at the things I have with much more gratitude. Lots of times I wished we had a little bit bigger of a home with more storage space and play area for us to have more kids. After getting a glance at the concrete15x15 shacks that a family of 4-8 Haitians has to live in with no running water or electricity I think I am doing rather well in my double wide trailer with a new attached garage, clean running water and electricity. I am even more thankful for my old stained carpet and the poor insulation which causes a draft that keeps our heater running all day. Life is very easy for us in America, but you don't really understand that until you see how bad it could be with your own eyes. I knew it was bad in Haiti, just from what I was told from others that had visited before. I never knew the greatness of how bad until I got to experience it for myself.

I’m planning to go back to Haiti when our youngest child is a couple of years old. I wasn't able to do much by way of helping out on projects since I was over 30 weeks pregnant so it would be nice to get the chance to get my hands dirty and feel like I contributed to the cause. So much more needs to be done and the only thing that puts Tina's many life saving projects on hold is "MONEY." That is all! MONEY!

Nothing more profound comes to my mind about our trip at this point. I hope my thoughts aren't so jumbled you are able to get a small picture about my experience. It certainly was not a place I really want to go back too, but it is a beautiful culture of people who were very excepting of us and Tina will always need people to come help her in her ministry. It is my one connection to a place where I can be involved in doing what God commanded us, which is to look out for and care for the widows, orphans, and the poor.

30 Weeks Pregnant and Haiti

2010-12-16T09:55:00.000-08:00

Wow! I have been pregnant for 28 weeks and it feel like only 8 weeks! Seriously this has been one easy pregnancy. I thought Jake's was easy, but this one beats being pregnant with him by far! I haven't had any problems except for a little heartburn, but that one's my fault for eating acidic foods I know I should stay away from!
I would like to post a picture of my belly but I don't have one on hand right now so I will save that for when I am bigger!
What I would like to ask for all my readers to do for me over the next couple of week is to pray for Joe and me. We will be flying out to Haiti on December 28th and will be gone until Jan 5th. We have been planning this trip for a year now and when I found out I was pregnant in July I immediately changed my plans to go knowing I would be going into my 30th week of being pregnant and didn't want to risk catching some weird disease, get sick, being uncomfortable sleeping on a floor for 8 nights, or go into pre-term labor in a third world country! After praying about it and reading half of "The Hold in our Gospel" I felt convicted by my fears and told God if he wanted me to go to Haiti to provide the funds for me to go and I would willingly go! I can lie! I was scared after I told him that because right away I felt God tell me, "really Melissa? That is it? All I have to do is give you the money to go and you will go? Done!" Ahhhhhhh! Thankfully I am not scared anymore! I just know I am going to miss my son like crazy!
I am most excited about the company we will be traveling with! There are only 5 of us going but two of them we hiked many miles with on the AT and haven't seen them since before we finished the trail. We love them dearly and ask for you to pray for them as well. I know God is going to work in some pretty powerful ways for all of us and hopefully in even more ways for the people we will be helping! I am unsure of all the details as far as what exactly we will be doing while we are there but that doesn't really matter because whatever it is will be for the Kingdom and we are excited to help in anyway we can! I hope to update you while there but I know the internet service is very unstable so you may not hear form me until after we return. Thanks for your prayers!

working mom or stay at home mom?

2010-12-08T11:04:00.000-08:00

Which one are you and why? I don't really need to know why but I just thought I'd start my blog with a question. I certainly don't care either way what one women decides vs. another when it comes to working, or staying at home with the kids. I do care what God thinks about my decisions and my reasoning behind staying at home with Jake.
I encourage you to take some time to read a blog I found yesterday that covers this topic so much better than I ever could. Even if you aren't married and don't have kids yet I still encourage you to read because one day you probably will be married and with children. The bloggers name is Kristi and she lives in Oregon and has 5 kids, 3 of those being 4 year old triplets! She has been married to her husband for 12 years and has been a stay at home mom for the last 11 years. She loves the Lord and strives to serve him in the way God has created her to live as a wife and mom. I was glued to her post like a fly on fly paper! I am very passionate about being a mama! I love my one on one time with Jake and the same will be true for the next bundle of joy. I do not miss working a full time job one bit. The stresses that come with being a mom are so much more rewarding than earning a income for me.
I hope you take the time to read. Maybe you can share your thoughts with me about it, so long as we can be civil in our words.
She also has some other great posts about parenting and marriage etc. I hope you get the chance to browse a little on her site.
I love to read on the thoughts of other moms, especially those who have been a mom much longer than a few years, have older kids and have had a happy successful marriage for 10 plus years. I have a much easier time taking her words to heart than someone not as experienced in the mommy department. I only say that because I know that one moms opinion over another doesn't make them an expert in parenting and marriage but it does say a lot when you see how successful one is because they cares nothing more than how God views her and her family. We are all learning and we all make mistakes because we are human, but that doesn't excuse us from modeling what the Bible teaches to others and especially our own kids!

Here are the links for you:
http://www.courageoushomekeeping.com/featured/is-it-a-sin-to-work-outside-the-home-part-1/
http://www.courageoushomekeeping.com/featured/is-it-a-sin-to-work-outside-the-home-part-2/
http://www.courageoushomekeeping.com/featured/is-it-a-sin-to-work-outside-the-home-part-3/
http://www.courageoushomekeeping.com/featured/is-it-a-sin-to-work-outside-the-home-part-3/
http://www.courageoushomekeeping.com/featured/is-it-a-sin-to-work-outside-the-home-part-4/
http://www.courageoushomekeeping.com/featured/is-it-a-sin-to-work-outside-the-home-part-5/

Cookies Favorites

2010-12-05T05:10:00.000-08:00

I plan to bake several different types of cookies for the holidays. I better get on it since Christmas is right around the corner. Here is what I plan to make!
Carmels
Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies
Ginger Cookies
Peanut Butter Balls (Buck Eyes)
Christmas Holly Wreaths (my favorite and so simple) Except I add 1/2 tsp of almond flavor to mine
I have already made the Holly Cookies! One down 4 to go! I have never made carmels before, or any other type of candy so it will be more of an experiment for me.
Now if I could only get on top of my Christmas shopping for Joe. I am such a procrastinator when it comes to Christmas!

So much for a good nights rest

2010-12-03T05:02:00.000-08:00

Instead of ranting about my terrible nights sleep on Facebook I decided I would rant a little on my blog just because I have nothing else I want to write about at this moment and my son is sitting next to me on the couch watching Baby Santa, eating Cherrios and acting as if he had nothing to do with my terrible night! Grrrrrrr.
Joe and I headed to Anderson, IN(our previous place of residency) to speak with a lady about our house we have been trying to sell. She really wants to live there for the rest of her life so this could possibly be our buyer! Anyway, after a great conversation with her and a fantastic dinner at our favorite mexican joint we headed home to watch The Office and wash and cut up the two deer that Joe killed last week. 10pm rolled around and I was feeling tired but continued to help Joe for a while longer knowing that if I was at least in bed by 11pm I would get a decent 7-8 hours of sleep before Jake woke up.
Think again! I love my son a bunch, but when there is no reason for him to wake up at 2am and keep me up until 4am and then wake up again at 6am, sometimes I just wish my baby monitor would break in the middle of the night so I didn't have any way of hearing him. I kept thinking he had pooped, or thrown up(the flu is going around like mad around here), or that he was cold. I think he just had a bad case of the "be a pain the butt so mom doesn't get any rest" bug! Well it is now 8am and he is acting perfectly fine! What the crap! I lost 4 hours of sleep for what? I have MOPS in an hour and now I am not sure I should go because he lost a good 2-3 hours of sleep and if he is coming down with something I don't want him to pass it on or end up throwing up the nursery at church. Decisions, decisions! Being a mom of a toddler and at the same time pregnant is EXHAUSTING! Can I get an AMEN!

Some fun pictures of me and Jake playing together. Helps remind me there are more good days then bad being a mom!

Christmas Traditions to get started on

2010-12-01T12:31:00.000-08:00

What kid doesn't just love this time of year. The lights, the Christmas tree, Santa Claus(well I never cared for him), presents, baby Jesus birthday, Christmas movies and music, and who can forgot all the sweets! Gotta love this time of year. I have been so rotten at keeping Christmas traditions alive since getting married. Not because I don't like traditions, but I haven't felt a deep desire to do all the work when it was just Joe and me. Now that we have a one year old my joy of traditions is working it's way back into my heart. I hope to pass on that same joy to Jake for family traditions. It is such a peaceful time of year for me, aside from all the parties and meals we share with others, I love to sit on my couch with a cup of tea, all the lights turned off, except for our tree and village and enjoy the peaceful glow that fills the room.
I researched Advent Calendars last night for a few hours, trying to find the perfect calendar either to buy or make. I am not a crafty person at heart. I want to be so I think I have pretty much settle on making my own Advent Calendar Banner for next year. Click here for the picture Advent Calendar
I am very excited about it. I have no idea how to sew but lucky for me I have several friends that sew and my mom, and mother-in-laws to help me get started on it. To go along with the calendar I am keeping my eyes out for a good Advent devotional book for kids that we can read to Jake.
I also really want to purchase a nice Nativity Set. Not the tacky kids ones that won't break, but one I can put on the mantle of my gas fireplace. I love willow tree but I will never want to spend that much money on one. They must be crazy! 300 plus bucks just to be displayed for a month!
Last but not least we WILL be hanging outside lights on the house next year! Every year I don't do it I regret it and I will not deprive my kids of not being able to enjoy watching their dad hang lights out in the freezing cold while we watch from the front window drinking our hot chocolate! Ha Ha! Just kidding Joe! My sister's and I did that to our dad a few times he waited a few weeks too long to hang them when the weather was nice out. Gotta love Dads! They will do just about anything for their little girls! Thanks Dad for filling up our hearts with so much love just with hanging a few lights on the house. Thanks Mom for putting up with the Christmas crabbies each year when we would decorate the tree and bake/decorate cookies. Loved every minute of it! I am sure my time is coming when I will have the crabbies because my kids aren't cooperating!
What kind of family traditions did you participate in as a kid and do you do those same things with your kids?

Thanksgiving with Hunters

2010-11-30T09:33:00.000-08:00

Boy oh boy! How was everyone's thanksgiving? Pleasant I hope, as was ours down in the southern region of Indiana. Spent 5 days with Joe's wonderful family and had three big Thanksgiving meals! You gotta love family get togethers around the holidays cause it usually means great food and good conversation. At least on our ends of things it is. Thanksgiving in Bedford is planned a little differently from Thanksgiving in Chicago. Well, I guess it isn't much different except for the fact that we plan to eat after dark vs.early to late afternoon. The reason for this is because it is hunting season and most hunters will hunt early in the morning, come home for a few hours and head back out until they can barely see their way out of the woods. Dinner's aren't planned to start until dark, but we are usually not serving up until more like 7pm or sometimes later depending on whether someone killed a deer or not. Joe ended up getting a couple of doe around 4:15pm on Saturday and we didn't start eating until 7pm that night due to having to gut, clean, check in and hang them before we could all eat. I had my very first hunting experience Friday afternoon with Joe. We didn't see anything the first two hours. I was freezing cold by the time we spotted our first doe and unfortunately we sat there watching them walk further away from us giving us no possible chance of adding them to our deep freezer. It was nice to be back in the woods with Joe regardless of the lack of action.
Thanksgiving in Chicago... well, we have at least one hunter in the family but he is married to my cousin so he has only been in the family for about 5 years so we usually gather together for meals early in the afternoon, eat til we are sick, lay around like pathetic stuffed turkey's and then eat some more.
Coming home is always nice, sometimes... I usually miss my bed, but I can't say the same for all the endless things I have been wanting to get done stare me in the face day after day. First thing that gave me the death stare was my empty fridge. NO FOOD! It is always nice to leave the house for a few days knowing the fridge is not full of food that will be spoiled by the time of your return, but once you return the last thing you want to do is get right back into the car and shop for an hour as did I yesterday evening while Joe was out hunting for a third deer.
I managed to avoid going out on Black Friday. My sister-in-law worked hard to get me to go out toWalmart at Mid-night. Knowing I probably wouldn't get to bed until 2am or later I politely refused and headed to bed early, trying to kick a cough and sore throat I had been fighting all week last week. Black Friday can be somewhat exciting for me knowing how many good deals stores throw at you so you will buy more. I tend to only like going if there is something specific that I really need. I would rather avoid large crowds of greedy people and waiting in extra long check-out lines and spend a few more bucks on the few items that I would have bought anyway. I am not much of a shopper! I kind of wish I was better at bargain shopping, but alas, I hate wasting my time running from store to store just to find the cheapest price.
All in all, thanksgiving was more than relaxing. I only wish Jake could have spend more time with grandparents and cousins than he did. He is the only Wisley cousin that doesn't live within 45 min of each other. I pray he grows up to be pretty good buds with them regardless of the distance.
Below are some pictures from the weekend gatherings.

All 10 Wisley side cousins

Jake's cousin closet in age

Papaw and Grandma Wisley

Cancelling Cable...

2010-11-16T07:14:00.000-08:00

Well Joe and I decided to cancel our cable TV when our contract is up at the end of December. Oh the time I will have to get projects started that I have put off, the number of books I will read, the quality time spent with Joe after Jake goes to bed and the time I would have once wasted during Jake's nap being bored watching crap TV when I could be cleaning, doing my quiet time, learning to knit, exercising etc. I can't say that I am going to love it for the first several weeks. I am sure that I will miss some of my favorite shows such as The OFFICE, SURVIVOR, ELLEN, SUPER NANNY, MAN VS WILD, MAN WOMAN WILD, PAWN STARS... just to name a few. I am looking forward to washing myself clean of my love for TV as well as the amount of money it will save of per year not having it. I think it all adds up to be $636 per year just to have cable TV! That would have taken care of our property tax for the last 6 months! It also relieves me to know that Jake will grow up not always wanting to have the TV on and will use his time being creative and active! Yeah for making life changes. Time to get out my puzzles, books, yarn, cook books and workout clothes!

Pregnant for 23 weeks already!

2010-11-09T10:20:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update on this new little pea pod that I already can't wait to hold, to nurse, to kiss, to read too, to introduce to Jake as well as the family and friends. Being pregnant this second time around has been a breeze. The only difference between this pregnancy and Jake's is the fact that Jake wasn't here yet and I had all the time in the world to cook, clean, nap and read! The great thing about a second pregnancy is my ability to relax and let the time pass without worrying about what labor is going to be like, finding all the baby crap I may need when it gets here(since I already have all the crap I can possibly store) and Jake takes up so much of my day that the time flies by giving me very little time to think about how much longer I have to be pregnant. Besides that there really is nothing different about this pregnancy from the first one. Even though we are not going to find out the sex of this baby, I have a strong feeling that it is going to be a boy, but only because I feel the exact same I did with Jake and this baby moves around a lot like Jake did. Girl or Boy I only pray that baby number two will like to snuggle a little more than Jake did, and that it will nurse a little faster as well. Jake seemed to take a good 45 min when he ate. Oh and I can't forget all the throwing up he did too! I have to add at that the, "let's not repeat that all over again" list. Jake has been a joy and I am excited to add another joy to my life. I would post a preggo picture but I have yet to take one so you will just have to wait. I do have a belly though, in case you were worried that I wasn't showing yet. I most certainly am and it has been getting harder and harder to put my socks and shoes on. Thankfully I can still cuddle with Jake before naps and bedtime. I will miss it when my belly is too big for me to hold him while I read him a book and sing him a few bedtime songs.

Not that I need it, but I want it!

2010-11-08T12:26:00.000-08:00

God has been working on my heart as of late when it comes to my needs vs. my wants. When I open up my drawers or look into my closet and wonder what I am going to put on for the day little voices start to pop into my head that I need more clothes, or I need to have a black pair of flats as well as a brown pair... Most girls are like this! We feel the need to have 5 or more purses, 4 belts, 6 pairs of high heels, three pairs of gym shoes, several pairs of sandals(all different colors), 4 pairs of jeans(all different washes), 10 dresses, 5 sweaters, 5 sweat shirts etc. I think you get the idea. Why is it that we think we need all these things? Why are they so important to us to have so many things? Why does fashion matter? I am certainly not saying I think we should all wear sweat pants and a T-shirt everyday, but the amount of clothes and accessories is way more abundant than it should be.
I was doing my laundry today and as I was separating the colors I noticed a maternity shirt I had not worn in a few weeks! I was excited to find it but the fact that I forgot I owned it made me stop and think about why I think I need more clothes when I can't even remember the ones I do have. I do about 3 loads of laundry per week. One dark load, one light colored load and a small white load. This does not always include the load of towels and sheets that I do every week, but I humbly think that is a pretty fair amount of clothes to be washed on a weekly basis. However, I think I have enough clothes that I wouldn't have to wash any for about a month. This to me is very sad!
I took a trip into Kokomo this weekend with my sister-in-law and Jake. My mission was to find a heavy winter coat for Jake. We made a stop at TJ Max but no luck in finding his size. I haven't been shopping in a long time so I decided to browse the shoes, scarves, and purses. This was somewhat of an unwise decision since it only made me want everything I saw! It is hard to browse when you have no money to buy so I won't be doing that again. Our trip ended at Old Navy and a $20 purchase for my little Jake. Now he was in definite need of a coat!
Christmas is coming up and I always struggle with this time of year, especially this year since I have been so convicted about money the last couple of months. Tis the season to want more, get more and spend more! Why? I have no problem giving more, but I hope my giving this year will go to those who need more. I plan to give a present or two to Jake and Joe, but I am much more excited about what my family can do to help others that have true needs. I am beginning to learn that the best way to lose the way money has control over our lives is to have less and give more. Joe read me an excellent quote that comes from a book called, "The Hole in our Gospel" which explains that idea better.

"We must never for a single moment lose sight of the stark realization that whenever we deal with money, we are dealing with dynamite. What is one day that which we control, the next day becomes the controller. Such dynamite must be defused, and the greatest diffuser that we as Christians have at our disposal is the opportunity to take that which seeks to dominate us and simply give it away. Think about it. There is no greater expression of money's total lack of dominance over us or of its low priority in our lives than when we can with joy and peace, give it away for the Lord's work. You cannot worship the God of mammon and be a free and cheerful giver. Likewise, you cannot serve the living God and be a hoarder of his resources. Giving, both how we give and how much we give, is the clearest outward expression of who our God really is. Our check stubs speak more honestly of our priorities than our church memberships."

The less I have, the less I stress and worry about because I learn to rely on God provision for me vs. losing my need to rely on anyone but myself. I am thankful for the things I have and I don't need more because I don't want my things to control me.

1st Birthday Pics

2010-11-05T10:11:00.000-07:00

These are a little late but better late than never!

This is Jake's first birthday card/mail from Aunt Janice and Uncle James, Kate and Luke

Playing outside on his Birthday. You want to Play with me?

Getting started on his cupcake!

Sugar Coma!

So BIG!

Pics from Tate's Apple Orchard with my parents

2010-11-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

Cleaning and Showing our House

2010-11-02T18:58:00.000-07:00

Today Joe, Jake and I spent half the day at our house in Anderson. The old place looked like it needed some freshening up. As I did my first walk through I thought, "not bad. The previous renter did what he thought was an acceptable clean up job," but as I started to open cabinets and the oven and microwave it looked as though food had exploded inside. I think it took me two hours to get the kitchen cleaned. Then I had the bathrooms, which weren't that dirty and then all the windows and the fireplace, which was full of ashes. All the doors and baseboards were filthy too! .Definitely was not show ready! That is why you can't always leave these types of things up to men. Some men have been blessed to know how to clean a place the right way. Not this guy! He does not have an eye for detail like I do. Joe spent the day outside trimming bushes, weed eating, sweeping and clearing out what should have been an already cleared and swept garage, but alas, one more thing our renter did not get done.
Jake was a little gem the whole time! He explored all day while we frantically cleaned. He barely had a decent nap but was as happy as could be. We showed the house to two people today! First couple is interested but made a really low offer of 35,000 dollars lower than our asking price and 15,000 dollars lower than the lowest price we would take for it. Next couple didn't make an offer because the guy said he was one of the greediest people ever and would make us a super greedy offer so Joe had to give him a number of what we had to get out of it. They are going to think it over and give us a call back! We are so hoping the second couple will go for the number we gave them.
On my way home tonight Jake threw up all over himself in the car! It was so gross but a quick clean up. Not sure why he threw up though? I hope it was just because he was finishing an 8oz bottle of coconut milk and it was too much for his stomach to handle. He fell asleep shortly after that and after I got home and was transferring him to his bed he threw up all over me twice! It was pretty gross but throw up doesn't make me gag like it used too. I quickly re-dressed him and put him down before I went back in to clean up the floor and the rocking chair. I really hope he sleeps well tonight and eats a good breakfast in the morning. That would at least tell me that his tummy was just upset from too much food and milk and that he is not coming down with a flu bug.
Well, I am too pooped to write anymore and should head to bed just in case this ends up being a rough night for Jake and me. I will keep you all updated on the progress of our home!

Parenting: Take a break

2010-10-25T08:35:00.000-07:00

I have an email subscription to a website for parents that sends me a parenting tip each week. I thought I would share this one with you because I think time outs can be a little over used and for a lot of kids aren't very effective, at least not at the day care I work at. I really liked the idea of taking a break rather than using a time out as a means to discipline all the time. Let me know what you think. I have more to share on the idea of training your child's heart from a great book I have read about it by the same guy who uses "The Break" in his household. The website is called biblicalparenting.org if you are interested in subscribing! Happy parenting! Ha Ha Ha!

Parenting Tip

October 25, 2010

Teach Children to Take a Break
When you begin to see a bad attitude or hear that manipulative whining voice, have your child take a Break. With young children, as young as two or three years old, have them sit in a particular place, a chair, a carpet square, the hallway, or a bottom step. For older children, you might send them to the parent's room or to another quiet place.

We believe that the Break is much more helpful than Time Out. The instructions given are simple and clear. "You need to go take a Break. Come back and see me when you've calmed down and are ready to talk about this nicely."
Two differences are important. The child knows that the objective in taking a Break is a changed heart and also the child helps determine the length of time spent in the break place, coming back only when ready for a debriefing.

These two differences between Time Out and the Break change the posture of the parent. With Time Out, the parent is the policeman, keeping the child in the chair until the sentence for misbehavior has been served. With the Break, the parent is eagerly waiting for the child to return so that they can debrief and more forward.

The Break helps parents address heart issues with children and can become a primary discipline technique. It actually comes from the Bible in the teaching about discipline in God's family, the Church (Matthew 18, 1 Corinthians 5, and 2 Corinthians 2). The idea is basically this: If you can't abide by the principles that make this family work, then you can't enjoy the benefits of family life. The two go hand in hand.

This parenting tip was taken from the book, Home Improvement, The Parenting Book You Can Read to Your Kids, by Dr. Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller, RN, BSN.

If this tip was sent to you by a friend and you'd like to continue to receive tips yourself, you can sign up at www.biblicalparenting.org.

A house is just a house and money is just money

2010-10-23T05:57:00.000-07:00

I do not write this post to make anyone have pity on our situation so if it comes off that way I apologize now because sometimes these types of blogs may give off the impression that my life is worse off than everyone else. We are in a tough spot right now and since this is my blog I feel the freedom to write about it and since it is apart of our life to update you about it as well.
We have a house, not the house we live in now but a house we still currently own that we built back about 2006. We moved in, I think, the winter of 06, it may have been 05, but it was so long ago I can't remember the exact date. We loved that house. It was our dream house and it wasn't even that big. Three bedroom, two full bath, wood burning fireplace, cathedral ceilings, big garage, living, dining and kitchen open concept and the best part... it was all on 6 acres of land. Most of it was wooded but we had about 2 acres that we mowed. The next best part...it was private, back off the road about 700 ft. behind two other houses. We could pee in the front yard or walk around the house butt naked and no one would know. The perfect place to live. I loved having my own place to decorate, to make my own. The first several years of marriage we lived in an apartment. It never felt like home to me because I knew so many other people lived in it before me and many more would do the same after we moved out. We then moved to a friends house with the intention that we would help him fix it up while we lived in it for free. That was a sweet deal, but again, never felt like home.
Then when we finally finished building OUR house.

We had our very own place to care for. We soon learned that owning a house was a lot more work than we ever thought it would be. Lots of things to work on, spend money on... It felt like a never ending project, but we still really loved living there regardless of the high costs to keep it up.
We then felt God moving us to a place we never thought we would be, but before going we were going to take a long walk in the woods for 6 months. Most of you know about our hike across the AT. Within two months after putting up a for sale sign we were unable to sell but found a couple who wanted to sign a lease option (basically, they rent for a year then buy the house). They never fulfilled their contract with us and moved out after 14 months of living there. Again we had to put the house up for sale and before our next months mortgage was due another couple came along and wanted to sign the same type of contract, with the intention of buying in a year. Praise God for his provision so we didn't have to pay the mortgage! Sadly enough they have also backed out of the lease and have moved out leaving us with a mortgage, insurance bill, property tax, and electric bill of which we have NO money to pay for. We now find ourselves in a pickle of decisions to make. How to pay for the mortgage each month? Whether or not to take the couple to court and sue them for what they owe us since they are still under contract with us until next April? Is the house ever going to sell?
Pray Pray Pray that God will sell our house so we can finally be free of a burden that we so loved when we could afford to live there.
The feelings I am left with the last couple of days is that a house is just house. It is not something we can take with us to heaven. It is just a place that God provides for us to find comfort, safety, peace, and happiness while we are here on this earth. Money is just money. God is so much bigger than money and American people seem to worry more about money than we do about our own souls or more important others souls. It is a tough spot to be in because we got ourselves in this pickle of a problem in the first place.
So we go on living and trusting that God will provide a miracle for us before too long. Last night I was reading Haggai last night before bed and here is what it says...

"Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house is in ruins (talking about the temple)? Now this is what the Lord Almighty says,"Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."

This is what the Lord Almighty says:" Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored says the Lord. "You expected much but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why? declares the Lord. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house."

I took these words and brought them into my reality that I have spent more time thinking about my house more than the house of God(his kingdom of people) which is in ruins. Sure I don't want to go bankrupt and loose everything. I honestly don't think that will happen, but I don't want to waste more brains cells thinking about how terrible our situation is rather than using my time to build up the kingdom of God. I can't say that I will ever want to build or even own a house ever again. If God was to call us to move again I don't need the stress of having to sell another home, or be stuck with the financial burden when my money could go towards helping people who don't have clean water or food and are dying everyday because of it. Too much time and money is wasted on a home, sometimes even one that we don't even own. I want to use my time and money to bless others. If you own a house I think God is okay with that. I think he wants us to be blessed so long as we are blessing others with what we have. Always remember that one day your house on earth will just be blown away and the time and money we put into it will all be gone in a flash. Eternal life is not built up in the place we live now, but in the place will be. "Home is where the Heart is"

Is your heart where your earthly home is, or your eternal home is?

God free us from our earthly house so we can build up your heavenly house for others!

A few summer favorites

2010-10-07T07:36:00.000-07:00

Two different kinds of "FALL"

2010-10-03T03:42:00.000-07:00

The wonderful things about fall...

cooler temps
changing colors
hot tea and hot apple cider
smell of harvest
apple picking
carving pumpkins
making pumpkin bread
chilly mornings
sitting around a campfire
taking a nap out on a blanket in the sun
Sunday afternoon football games

I am sure I am forgetting many other wonderful things about this time of year. How about you? What is your favorite part?
I am sitting at the dining room table wishing that I wasn't suffering from my first fall cold. Jake and I both caught a cold this week while at Day Care. I feel worse for him because I know how bad I feel and he doesn't know how to blow his nose or tell me where he hurts. I RARELY ever get sick and if I do it is usually not until February, so I am pretty bummed that I managed to get sick. I knew the risk I was taking if I worked at a Day Care with all the runny noses, coughing and sneezing that goes on in places like this but I honestly didn't think I would be sick after less than a month of working there. Well, at least it is only a cold and will pass in a couple of days.
Joe on the other hand has a little more to complain about. My hero took a bad crash on his bike a little over two weeks ago in the woods on the expert section of a single track mountain biking trail. The section he was in had redesigned that section and added some more jumps so he was unfamiliar with the difficulty of one particular jump and gave it a go which could potentially cost us in a large sum of hospital bills. He flew over his handle bars head first and when he was in mid air turned his body to his left side(he is predominately left handed) and his head and left shoulder took the brunt of the fall. He was knocked out cold for several seconds. The guy who was with him is a good friend of ours from the camp and he said he thought Joe was dead because his body went limp once he hit the ground. When Joe came too he was in and out for about 30 min before he could remember what had happened and where he was etc. He thought his shoulder was either broken or dislocated and the pain was so intense he did what goes does best in those situations, crack jokes!
When my prince returned to me he was in a sling and x-rays showed that his shoulder and clavicle were separated, which basically means the ligament that holds them together was torn really bad. He is still suffering pain from that and will be following up with an orthopedic surgeon this week to check on his healing progress. So far no surgery is needed but it will take several months for it to be back to his normal self again. He did also have to have a CT scan and the results came back negative(hence the huge medical bill in which we hope insurance will cover). Those things are expensive! Well my daring husband won't be riding his bike for a while but I am sure this won't slow him down any. I am just glad to have him in one piece and glad he isn't paralyzed!

To blog or not to blog

2010-09-28T16:54:00.000-07:00

Oh the blogging world is something I go back and forth with. I do like to read other blogs but to write them is a whole different kind of world for me. I think it is only because I want to make time to read what has been going on in my friends lives, however I don't care to keep my own blog up to date. Not that min blog is anything worth keeping up on but if I am going to have one I should at least do a monthly post right?
I think my last post was in July, I think. Anyway, it was a long time ago. I guess I will just share my highlights for the last few months and then hope to give you a little more than just updates in my next posts.

In my last post I announced that we are expecting our second child which is exciting for me now since I finally heard the heart beat. It makes it all the more real to me when I hear that first sound of pitter pattering. I love that sounds. It makes my heart stop and all I want to do is smile! We will not be finding out the sex of this baby either. Since we will be doing a home birth again we do not plan to have an ultra sound unless our midwife thinks it necessary too. I know it seems strange not too since they are usually the norm, but they are just another one of those hospital procedures that I don't need to spend extra money on. Our total cost for this baby is going to be a whopping $1000! Usually she is 1800 but we gave her family a place to stay at our camp for free for a few weeks so we were able to cut down on the cost which is so stinking nice! So baby number two, boy or girl, is going to enter the world in it's own home somewhere around March 8th. That puts me at around 18 weeks now. My baby bump is now popping out enough you can tell I am pregnant, not fat!
Since the summer ended I have taken a part time, as needed, job at our Rainbow Kids Day Care Ministry. It is right at the camp, and I can bring Jake with me when I work so I felt that I shouldn't pass up an opportunity to make a few bucks while being able to keep Jake with me. This is my third week and I enjoy it a lot more than I expected too. I have always loved kids but I wasn't sure how if having Jake with me would be too much of a distraction since I want to make sure that I am not just focused on him or if Jake might give me a hard time because he is so used to having me all to himself. Well I am happy to say that Jake is neither a distraction and he plays very well with the kids. He has even adjusted to taking naps there so I feel pretty stress free about it and am very thankful for the opportunity I have been given. It not only gets me out of the house a couple days of the week, but it allows Jake to socialize, as well as myself, and I feel like it will be a learning experience as far as how to handle all different ages. In a way help prepare me a little as Jake goes through all the different stages. I have already learned a lot and I appreciate all the kids that come in.
I have decided that I am not going to let cabin fever set in this winter! I have joined a Monday morning ladies small group with a few women from camp and church. We are studying a book by Joyce Myer called "Battlefield of the Mind." So far I have only been to one meeting but just joined last week. I felt very positive about getting back into a small group studying because I have always needed something to help keep me on track in my spiritual disciplines. I also decided to give MOPS a try every other Friday morning from 9-11am. Not sure what MOPS stands for but it is for moms to get together, drop the kids off at the nursery and hang out, do projects, listen to guest speakers etc. I was asked to be a guest speaker this coming January and share about fitness and nutrition. I look forward to getting to know other moms in my community and hope it will get my foot in the door in terms of feeling more apart of our church as well. Converse is really starting to feel like home for us. We are so thankful for all the great friendships we have made here and love the family community we share in at the camp.

I think I have exhausted my words for this post. My brain has decided to stop working for the day. I was going to post some pictures, however, I have not loaded them onto my computer yet. God Bless!

What is up with our family these days

2010-07-11T11:53:00.000-07:00

I have gone blank as of what to blog about as of late, hence the reason I haven't kept you all updated the last month. I don't like to write unless I feel inspired too and my inspiration has been dead. Until now...
My last post was in May and since then my little sister got married. It was a fun day as most weddings are. I was able to contain myself while standing by her side as she became Mrs Tyler.
Last week was Joe's Wilderness Trip for the camp. We took three high school guys down to Bedford IN for some mountain biking. I was able to go with them for two of the 4 days. I had so much fun! I totally miss playing on my bike in the woods. My legs don't look like they had fun though. I had around 10 bruises and a nice long cut on the back of my leg from my petal getting in the way.
We are more than halfway through summer camp. It is hard to believe summer is almost over. It always feels like camp just gets started and then you blink and it is over and everything around me feels dead and quiet.
I turned 30 last week. It isn't that bad being 30. Sure I know I am older but I still feel young and do just as much now as I did when I was 20.
Jake is walking like it is his job. He started about three weeks ago just after he turned 9 months and he is so cute walking around like Frankenstein. He isn't saying anything except Dada and sometimes Mama. He loves to eat though! Oh my goodness! He could sit in his highchair for 45 min and shovel it down like it was his last meal. He is a Wisley! It looks like he is going to be a lefty. He uses it a lot when he eats and picks things up.
I am most certainly not ready for this next bit of news which will come as a surprise as it did for Joe and I but we have another bun in the oven. It apparently has been cooking for about 4 weeks now. Looks like the boring month of March is going to be an exciting one for us next year. I find it rather funny actually. I wanted to cry when I found out, but I just laughed instead. I always did say I wanted to have my babies close together.
well, there you have it. My life for the last 6 weeks.

Workout Weeks 4-5

2010-05-11T17:16:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I am this far behind in my workout update. Sorry to keep you wondering, if you even care. Week 4 went fairly well. I took the week to rest, if you want to call it that. I actually just rested from lifting weights and focused on yoga, cardio and core work. So, I ended up working out everyday. It was just as hard of a week. I sweat a lot and was still sore, but it was nice to leave the dumbbells in their place and only have to unroll my yoga mat. Working out on a daily basis has become a daily habit and I can't go to bed until it is done. I know the benefits and love the way I feel when I am finished. We ate a few things we had not had in a long time, like brussel sprouts and squash. I can't complain about the food side of it besides my cravings for ice cream, which I have had a couple times in the last two weeks. No worries because I weighed in this morning and I have lost about 5-6 pounds in the last 4.5 weeks. I hope the scale wasn't lying to me this morning but I was pumped to see a much lower number than I was expecting it to be. Only 5-6 pounds from my goal and I have two months to do it!
Last weeks workouts hurt! I am on a slightly different routine. It is always good to mix it up every 3-4 weeks to create muscle confusion. The reason for this is to keep your body guessing so that it is forced to adapt to a new exercise, or routine to produce faster and better results. I can't do the same thing day in and day out so this kind of workout is great for me. Here is my workout schedule for the next three weeks:
Mondays - Chest, Shoulders and Triceps and then Abs
Tuesdays - Plyometrics (high impact jump training)
Wednesdays - Back and Biceps and then Abs
Thursdays - Yoga (60-90 min)
Fridays - Legs and Back and then Abs
Saturdays - Kempo/Karate (basically a lot of punching and kicking)
I usually get a walk in everyday as well.
I am feeling really great. I am back into my pre-pregnancy jeans. They are slightly snug in the butt and hips but not so much that I can't wear them. Even though I am only 6 -8 pounds over what I used to be I feel perfectly beautiful and fit.

Okay now for my picture update. I took these at the beginning of last week. I will post my first picture and then my most recent picture so you can see the difference.

A very tasty Eggplant Recipe. (Even for those who are picky!)

2010-05-11T16:27:00.000-07:00

Do you like Eggplant? Three weeks ago I would have said," not really", but today I have found a way to like it.
Eggplant Parmigiana
1 egg plant sliced in 1 inch pieces long ways. You can peeled it or leave the peel on. I left mine on.
1 egg beaten with a tsp of water
1/4 of flour
Dip each piece of eggplant in the egg and then the flour. Fry in a pan with oil until each side of golden brown.
Put the pieces in a baking dish and pour grated Parmesan cheese over the top. Then 1 cup of all natural spaghetti sauce on top of that and then 3/4 cups of mozzarella cheese. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees until warm. about 10-12 min.
This was sooooooo yummy! You can even add some ground meat to it if you so desire. Try it! You will like it!

We had black beans and brown rice with this as our side! Loved it all!

Food!

2010-05-10T14:21:00.000-07:00

Oh how I love food! I am so glad that I am not a picky eater because there are so many wonderful flavors out there I haven't even tried yet. I try just about anything except for fried bugs! I love ethnic foods too! Chinese, Italian, French, Indian, Thai, etc you name it and I just might like it. My taste buds always look forward to anything new and exotic.
Last week I decided I would start making my own food. Not just your original chicken casseroles and salads, but HEALTHY homemade bread, muffins, granola bars, WW pancakes, and several other recipes that have just good old wholesome ingredients. No sugar added! My goal for the next 6-8 weeks is to eat only foods that are unprocessed. I am no longer buying Quaker granola bars (even though I never bought those in the first place), or boxed cereal, pancake mix, store bought bread or box mix muffins. If I want to eat it I am going to make it from scratch. I am very excited about this challenge because not only will it force me to expand my recipe book, it will, I hope, help me feel better on the inside and look better on the outside.
I have already made a couple batches of WW bread and my Dried Cherry and Walnut Oatmeal Bars are now cooking in the oven and they smell so good! Both batches of bread turned out so yummy. Way more tasty and wholesome than store bought bread. I tried two different recipes and love them both! I told Joe yesterday that we need to try and control our cravings for it because I didn't want to have to make bread every single week. If we could get by on a loaf of bread per week that would save me having to knead bread every week. That is hard work! I wish I had a Kitchen Aid Mixer! One of these days I will. If anyone knows of someone that wants to get rid of theirs let me know.
I have been searching online for recipes to try. My favorite blogs to get recipes from is one by orangette and another by Simple Kneads. These blogs have great recipe ideas! I am going to also make my own Chipati bread this week as well. It is an African non-yeast bread made with very simple ingredients. They end up looking like WW torillas. You can find that recipe on Simple Kneads as well as the WW bread. I also love the Food Network channel. I watch Giada and Home, Healthy Appetite with Ellie Kreiger, and for the unhealthy side of me I love Paula Dean. If I could meet one person and hang out with for a day it would be Paula Dean. I hope to one day go visit Savannah Georgia and eat at her restaurant. ( Just tried the bars I made and they taste pretty good. I think I will add more applesauce next time for a little more moister).
Anyway! If anyone has any great healthy, non-processed recipes for any kind of meal pass them on to me! I am pumped about all the endless possibilities. My taste buds are already watering!

Etiquette Part 2

2010-05-08T04:42:00.000-07:00

It is my desire to poke a little fun at times because I know that some reading this may think I am bashing them and I am not. I should be bashing myself in some of these categories. My only goal is to write out my thoughts, not victimize people or make you feel bad for being at fault for some of these things. I have been at fault myself. We all make mistakes in the department of good manners. I know I lack in the "having more tact" department, of which I want to improve on, and have improved on, but need to improve more. I also need to work a little more on how I express myself by way of blogging, emails, facebook etc. since I know I can come off as abrasive and uptight. I am not an uptight person who picks at every little thing that people do wrong. My blog is not meant to point out things about people I don't like. It is just my poor style of writing that makes it sound like I am annoyed with people every time they do these things. I only bring up what I think we could all work on a little more. Some etiquette categories are higher up on my list of importance, and others are not that big a deal, but worth a mention so please take it with a grain of salt and have a little fun with it.
Alright, for part two I will be covering the following categories: CELL PHONE, TEXTING, DRIVING.
Cell Phone:
I absolutely love having a cell phone! I think they are one of the greatest inventions. The sense of security it gives me when I am taking a long distance trip by myself, or when I am at the grocery store and can't remember what Joe wanted me to buy him. I think most of us would be naked without it, however there are some ways in which having one on our person 24/7 can make life a little obnoxious at times. One of those times is when you get a call in the middle of a conversation with someone. Should you answer or should you ignore it? Depends. In most instances incoming calls can wait until the conversation is over, period. Think back to the days when cell phones didn't exist. I remember not wanting to own a cell phone because of how much I dislike phone conversations. Personally, I don't care for talking on the phone over talking in person, unless the person is too far away to get together.
Another time is when you are eating dinner, whether it be at home or out, or how about during church(doesn't happen that often), or the movies. It's not hard to turn phones on vibrate and step out of the room if you absolutely must answer. I don't care to hear the one sided conversation. Another place I really don't care to pick up my phone is in the car, but only if I am with other people. There is something about tight spaces and listening to other people talk on their phone's I don't care for, but when it does happen it isn't the end of the world.
Then we have TEXTING! I think texting is another great invention. It allows you to contact someone without having to talk to them if you happen to be in the middle of something and can't call, or if you need to send a quick message out. It is a nice tool to have on your plan. I do not have unlimited texts. I do not have the need to text people all day long, but for those who prefer to text versus call me I have to have a plan so my phone bill doesn't sky rocket.
The times texting can become frustrating is when people get texts in the middle of a conversation and reply while continuing the conversation. I know I can't pay attention to the two at the same time so I don't know how anyone else can.
As a general rule I think putting away your phone during the times you are in the middle of a conversation would save you from offending anyone, or pardon yourself from the conversation and step away to write the reply or make the call.
DRIVING - The wonderful world of automobiles. Gotta love having a car right! I can't imagine having to go back to a horse and buggy. To think how much of the world we would not get to see and explore. I am not too sure what driving etiquette looks like so I will just cover the things that I think bug people the most about other drivers
One road rule would have to be using your turn signals at the proper time, which for some odd reason many people who live in bigger cities do not use. I have noticed this in Chicago especially. I don't know why it is so hard for people to move their little fingers over a few inches and put a little pressure on the signal knob to indicate to other drivers which way they intend to turn? Beats me!
Next we have those drivers that we all love! Left lane slow pokes! Oh how I wish I could tap the back of their bumpers when they pay no attention to the long line of cars that are following closely behind them. Even better is when they drive the same speed as the person in the right lane so that no one can pass on either side!

My favorite Parenting book thus far

2010-05-04T14:21:00.000-07:00

I have to share because I found a book that just so happens to be the best book on parenting I have read in a long time. In a previous post I wrote about how I am searching for answers on how God instructs us to parent and what I thought to be good parenting before I had kids is now different for me now that I have my own, not much, but I have a better understanding of child-rearing since having Jake. I have done a lot of online reading about discipline. I have read strangers blogs, gone to christian websites, secular websites, websites for mom's, etc. Joe told me I needed to stop reading so much on it because he didn't want me to be brainwashed by so many opinions. I agreed I should probably not be so obsessed over it, but I want to do the very best at being the parent God instructs me to be. Parenting thus far has been the most challenging part about being a parent. It's not the crying, the fussiness, the runny nose, getting up in the middle of the night, but it's the decision of how we are going to parent Jake. The other part that goes along with that is the challenge you face when your parenting styles don't match with those you live life with. It's not that they have to match, but it becomes a challenge because if my way is different from other families way you don't want to step on their toes and/or offend others visa versa We are all going through the same thing and yet we still avoid this topic of "parenting." I personally would rather talk about it, even if we disagree, than too avoid it.
Of all the info on blogs, websites, and books I have read I found a book that I feel is one of the best books on Parenting. It is called "Parenting by the Book" by John Rosemond. You can go to his website and read up on him and his material(www.rosemond.com). John practiced in Psychology and has written many other books on parenting. If you have been questioning the meaning of the phrase "the rod" John explains it in this book in a way I have never heard before. If you are interested in finding out more go to the link at the end of this blog and you can read the introduction, Chapter 1 and 5 of this book to see if it is something you might be more interested in reading for yourself.
I would consider myself a traditional parent. I haven't been comfortable with the new postmodern way of parenting, thus the reason I like this guy so much because he makes sense and believes that the way child- rearing was done before the 1960's was really the best way to do it. In other words our grandmothers knew what they were doing. He also does a great job of backing up his beliefs with verses from the Bible. Happy reading!
http://www.rosemond.com/PbTB-Download.html

Etiquette/Good Manners

2010-05-01T09:18:00.000-07:00

Time changes, but having manners shouldn't. I researched the word "etiquette" this week and here is what I came up with. I found a website by a woman named Emily Post who has passed away recently. She was an expert in "etiquette" and I found her site to be quite helpful in this category, although there were a few categories I was unable to find any information on. I don't have my panties in a bunch or anything. I just thought it would be interesting to read up on it. I don't hold these things over people's heads. I am not that picky, except for maybe the "Time" category, but maybe I just need to work on my patience a little more too. ;)
Bathroom Etiquette - The Toilet Seat Rule.
Some men have a terrible habit of leaving it up after they relieve themselves. Luckily I have a husband that ALWAYS puts the seat down, thanks to his lovely mother for instilling that rule in him. I have, however had several guests, leave the seat up after they use the toilet. Boys, it would be so considerate of you if you could try to remember to put the seat down when you are finished. I prefer to not have to touch the seat unless I am cleaning it once a week. Thanks!
RSVP Etiquette - RSVP is french for "repondez s'il vous plait" or "please reply" I have failed at giving a prompt reply to an invitation in the past and hate myself for it. Proper etiquette for an invitation is to reply to it within two days of receiving the invitation. I've been in the position of the invitation sender and experience frustration from people not responding to the invite.
Time Etiquette - this one is my own rule. I couldn't find time etiquette on Emily's website but it should be there. I have always been a person of punctuality and appreciate it when people I make appointments with do the same. I understand that there are circumstance where a person has a good reason for being late to things, but there are also those people who are late to everything. Working as a personal trainer for 4 years I experienced many a client that would consistently show up late for our workout appointments. One in particular met with me 2 times a week at 6:30AM and never showed up on time. In fact, she was always at least 20 min late. For those of you who hate getting up before 7am, like me, can relate to how annoying this is. Luckily I don't perform like a doctors office and give them their full session when they were late. Every client had a 45 min time slot. Whether they chose to show up on time or not, was up to them. Being late on occasion doesn't bother me. I am not that up-tight, but I do appreciate people who respect other people's time
Conversation Etiquette - I was going to title this one as "The Interrupting Child" but changed it because adults are at fault for interrupting conversations as well. Interrupting a conversation or someone that is talking to you is a BIG 'no' no' in my book. I have been interrupted one too many times by people I am talking too, whether in person or over the phone as well as interruption by someone not even involved in the circle of conversation who jumps in before the speaker is finished. I don't know why it is so hard but, before opening your mouth make sure the person that is speaking is done speaking. Not a hard rule to follow. Even more annoying then that is when a child interrupts. Not because they loudly proclaim they need someone's attention, but because in a lot of cases the adult they are trying to get the attention from give it to them, teaching them that it is okay to interrupt whenever they want something. Growing up my parents told us we were to never interrupt them when they were speaking with someone. If we needed something we were to give them a light squeeze on the arm so they knew we would like to ask them something when they were able to listen. It worked like a charm!

I have more but might bring those up in another post. What are some etiquette categories that you were taught growing up that isn't quite the same today? The only reason I bring this up is because I feel like America is losing respect for one another. We think so much of ourselves and not more of others. I haven't had these things in particular happen to me in the past month, but they have happened enough that I thought they would be good categories to start with.

Jake Pictures

2010-04-30T15:08:00.000-07:00

For the sake of my family, and maybe yours too, a Jake update.

2010-04-29T11:03:00.000-07:00

My, my, my, where does the time go? It has already been 7.5 months since Jake was born! I sit and think often of the time when Jake fit into newborn outfits, and itty bitty diapers, and could do nothing but lay around and coo. Wow! Life is so much more fun now then it was when he was 1-5 months old. I was watching video's I had taken of him on a weekly basis and it is so strange to look back and see where is was then compared to now.
Let's see...
Jake is now mobile. He isn't necessarily crawling but he gets around whether by scooting or army crawling, or rolling. He can get to where he wants to go.
Jake loves to stand! Anytime I am nearby he reaches out for my hands so that he can pull himself up and excitingly bounces once he is up. It is pretty darn cute. Soon I will have to clear off the coffee table of anything I don't want him playing with or throwing off. He already does that but it doesn't really bother me yet.
I am constantly talking to him and repeating words as I show him things, hoping that he catches on fast. Not because I want him to be an over achiever, but because I just want him to understand me even if he can't talk. I am working on some sign language. Our favorites are: more, eat, milk, all done. I think he gets the idea of milk and all done. Sometimes it seems like he is trying to tell me "all done" but probably not. He just likes to wave his hands a lot.
As far as words go I would like to tell you that his first word is "mama!" Just in the last few days he sounds as if he says "mama" when he is frustrated, hungry and tired. Could be, but it could just be baby babble as well. I think he is saying it! ;)
Jake has also learned to sit up on his own as well. Last week I went in his room to get him out of bed and he was sitting up waiting on me. I was very impressed even though every baby goes through it I am having fun seeing him learn new things.
One last milestone. Jake is learning to wave hello and goodbye. I asked him to wave hi today several times and he would most times stop was he was doing and look at me wave to him and then copy me. It is so cute! I want to kiss him every time.
I was going to post some pictures of him but for some reason my camera isn't letting me, or maybe it's the computer with the problem, but either way I am unable to load any for you.

Workout Week # 3

2010-04-25T11:56:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that 3 weeks of working out is complete. When I first started I thought the weeks were going to crawl by and now I feel like they are flying by. I have already re-established my love for working out! I have always heard that it takes 21 days to make something a habit and it is so true. My number one priorities for each day besides hang out with my son as much as I can is to do my daily Bible readings and to work out. Whatever else I accomplish is great too but not as important.
Week 3 workouts consisted of lots of push-ups, pull-ups, 350 crunches three times a week, biking, yoga, Karate, arms, plyometric training, and going on walks. The workouts are still really hard but I am feeling much stronger then I did on day one and I have so much more energy then I had three weeks ago.This week I take a break from lifting weights and focus on cardio, yoga and core.
I finally got on the scale today, which is not something I like to make a habit of because it isn't always about numbers for me. If I feel good and my clothes are fitting better then that makes me happy. Well, I was 1.5 lb lighter then when I started! I am now only 8.5lb from my goal! I also put a skirt on this morning before church that hasn't fit me since before I was pregnant and it fit well enough to wear today. It was a little snug but not uncomfortably snug and that made me more happy then having lost any weight.
My challenges for the week were few are far between. I can't say that this week was really all that challenging. I did try a few new foods so I guess I can consider that a challenge in a different kind of way. I have always wanted to try eggplant. I went shopping at Meijer this week instead of my normal trip to Aldi and Walmart. I am getting so tired of shopping at those places because they don't have as large a quantity of fruits and veggies so I decided to take a break from the norm and live it up for the week. It was a trip well deserved even if I spent more than I normally do on groceries. ( I guess I can consider this my challenge of the week) The endless choices in the produce section sent me soaring! I felt like a little kid at the candy shop! So many great choices, but I couldn't buy them all or they would spoil before i had the chance to eat them. Egg plant was on my list of things to get, as well as my normal veggies; squash, zucchini, spinach, avacado, celery, carrots, asparagus, and several others. My next stop was th meat market. Hmm. Another great section of the store. We love meat in the Wisley house. A meal isn't a meal without some form of muscle building protein. I decided to go with a pork tenderloin and make that for dinner that night. My trip ended quickly since Jake was almost ready for a nap. I purchased my items and headed home to get the boy down and admire all the fresh and healthy food items.
Dinner that night changed once I opened the package of pork and gagged at the smell of rotting meat. I always check expiration dates and I was not at fault for this mistake. Date read: 4?25/2010. The date the day it was bought: 4/23/2010. Bummer. I'd have to take that back the next day, which I did, hoping they would give me a gift card for their mistake.
Nope, no gift card. Bummer again!
We had salmon and eggplant cooked under the broiler with some olive oil and salt and pepper. It was not at all what I was expecting. I really didn't like it at all! It had a very bland flavor, but I am determined to find a way to make it taste good. I absolutely love watching foodnetwork. My fav chef is Giada and she uses eggplant a lot in her cooking so I have already found a few ways to improve the flavor.
Another food I am practicing with flavor enhancement is deer meat, or venison if your prefer. I love deer meat, if cooked properly. It can be tough and boring so you have to use a good seasoning and tenderizer if making a deer steak. Last week I attempted deer burgers. I failed on the meat holding together but passed on flavor using worchtershire sauce, salt, pepper, and B-B-Q sauce and whole wheat bread crumbs. With the remaining meat I made meatballs in the oven and they held together just fine. Not sure what I will try this week but I would like to try a new food every week.
I am excited to get to take my 30 day photo next Sunday! I can't wait to compare it to my Day 1 photos. I have decided that I would reward myself at the end of every month with any one meal and any one desert I want, but I have to be really good in order for me to deserve it. Here goes week 4!

Sorry Jake! ( you are going to laugh if you read this)

2010-04-24T08:44:00.000-07:00

I use cloth diapers and love them! They are easy to use, save me money, and not hard to wash. Ever since Jake started eating solids his poop has obviously changed to good old adult-like poop. That makes things a little more difficult in the cleaning process because I have to dunk then in the toilet to get all the poop off before I put them in the wash. Didn't have to do that with breastmilk poop because it is water soluble.
So this morning Jake poops and I clean him up like normal. I am the only one home at this point so I set Jake down on the floor in the hallway so I can see him as I dunk his diaper in the toilet. He is happily playing with some books and I proceed to the bathroom. Before I get to the bathroom I start to open the diaper to fix the velcro that is stuck on the diaper. My hand slips and one side of the diaper falls out of my hand and not thinking anything would happen I look down and see Jake's leg covered in his own poop. probably a 1/2 cup worth of it and it isn't hard, firm poop that I can just scoop up really quick. It was oatmeal consistency! Yuck! I promptly grab one of Jake's hands and try to think about what I should do first: clean the poop of his leg, or carry him to the tub. While I am taking my time in thinking Jake decides that it looks like fun and with his free hand takes a handful of it. Noooooooo! So I grab his poop filled hand and let go of the other hand. Why do I do this? I don't know! You know what happens next. Now I have Jake with poop on his leg and in both hands. Okay now I have no other option but to carefully pick him up and put him in the tub. On my way I step in the poop make a trail going into the bathroom on the carpet and bathroom floor. My first priority is to get that poop off of Jake's hands. I turn on the faucet and start rinsing when all of a sudden Jake starts screaming bloody murder! "What What What" I yell! Then I realize that I had only turned on the hot water so my son was being scalded with hot water on his right hand. Crap! (literally and figuratively speaking). With Jake still screaming I finish cleaning him off and take him to his room to find a pacifier (yes I am still using them for emergency) and wrap him in a towel and calm him down. His poor little hand was beat red and eyes full of little tears. He quickly calmed down as I covered his hand in cold Aloe Vera lotion I keep in the fridge. Now to clean up the other mess. 10 min later life is back to normal again and Jake has forgotten how his mommy tried to body paint him with his own poop and them burn it off. Poor little guy! I couldn't have felt any worse because it was all my fault. I am just really glad that I didn't drop the poop on his head. ( I think I am going to go and vomit now) Good thing it was me and not Joe. He has a terrible gag reflex in these situations.
Hope your day is less pooped filled than mine. :)

Workout Week # 2

2010-04-21T07:09:00.000-07:00

I am three days behind in posting this because our internet at the camp is finicky and about every two weeks decides it doesn't want to work. It really doesn't bother me that I can't get online for a few days because it allows me to catch up on some things that I should be doing rather then reading blogs, posting blogs or seeing what is going on on Facebook.
Anyway, so last week marks my second week of working out consistently. I must say that it has been so much easier for me to stay with it when I know that I will be posting my monthly pictures and writing a weekly blog about it for you to read. Even if I don't get any comments I know people are reading and that is enough for me to stick with it even when I am so tired, only have 30 min to workout or if I am tempted to stop by our local ice cream shop for a treat. I actually did end up having some ice cream last week when my sister came to visit for a few days. It was totally worth it, as well as the pizza we ordered one night.
Week 2 wasn't any easier in terms of the exercises becoming easier, but I for sure was not as sore as the first week. Personally I don't mind being sore because it makes me feel like I am working hard. That isn't a factor in how hard you work, but I enjoy the pain per se. I was able to get through all of my workouts except for this past Saturday. I decided I could use the day to veg, and veg is what I did. Joe was gone Tuesday night through Saturday and when he got home he said that I was looking like I am tightening up in my stomach! Yepee! Although I don't feel that I look much different but hey, I will gladly take the compliment.
Challenges for the week were as follows:
1: Whenever Joe leaves for a few days I always seem to have the most difficult time eating well. I snack more on carbs and don't want to cook healthy meals if I am the only one to cook for. Foods that I crave are usually, rice, popcorn, cereal, dried fruit and pretzels. I know they aren't terrible choices, but I eat too much of it at one time.
2: Baby Showers and Wedding Showers! It is that time of year when everyone and their mother seems to be having a baby or getting married and that means showers, which means food and worst of all, Cake! Cake is one of my favorite things! Oh the wonderful flavor of that moist chocolate goodness covered in sweet, thick frosting is almost too much for me to even know what the meaning of the word, "NO THANKS!" Suffice it to say, I was good and was able to pass on the cake and eat more carrots and celery. I also passed up a few cookies at a dinner the church had on Sunday night for all the people who volunteer in the kids ministry.
3: Not getting enough sleep! Sleep is one of the most important aspects of your health. If you aren't sleeping at least 7 hours per night you aren't getting the precious sleep you need in order for your body to do what it needs to do to function. This is especially true when you are working out everyday. In order for muscles to recuperate and heal properly they need rest. Jake hasn't slept well for the past two week it seems. Ever since we came home form Puerto Rico I have had to get out of bed up to 5 times per night. That isn't always every night but he always wakes up at least two times between the hours of 7pm-7am. The first time is almost always around 11pm. I will have just drifted off to a deep sleep and suddenly jolted out of sleep. It makes my heart race every time. Scares me to death! About a month ago Joe and I decided to take pacifiers away from Jake because we were tired of having to retrieve them for him every time he woke up at night. He was completely broken of them in a few days and then we went back to using them when we headed out to Puerto Rico. I don't know how we would have survived without the pacifier on the airplanes. It kept him happy and the other passengers as well. Since we have been home we continued to keep using them and two days ago started to take them away once again. Jake can fall asleep just fine without one. It is the trying to get him back to sleep once he has waken up in the middle of the night that has been frustratingly challenging this week.I am about to just throw 10 pacifiers in his crib in the hopes that he can find ONE of them and go back to sleep, but at the same time I don't want him to have to rely on them. I know everyone has different opinions on pacifiers. I have heard how bad they are, or how terrible it is for me to take them away from him so I don't need advice here. I am just venting and am completely capable of being a good parent to my son and making the right decisions. Either way he isn't going to grow up scared by whether we decide to give him a pacifier or not. (Dismounting my horse. Where did that come from?) Anyway, I need more sleep.
Challenge #4: I don't know if I mentioned this challenge in my last post but it is probably the most challenging next to food. The only time I can get in a workout is when Jake is napping. His naps usually last from 60-90 min and that gives me enough time to workout, shower, and eat something. However, I have a whole list of things that I want to get done around here that I can only do when he sleeps, such as, wash windows, yard work, spring cleaning in the house, shampoo carpets, wash and wax the car etc. That means it will take me several weeks to have my "To Do List" complete. Before Jake, I would have it done in a week or less. Jake is certainly a lot more fun then a "To DO List" but I like things neat and clean. I am not OCD by any means because it is not first priority for me, but it would be nice to get it done before summer hits. Every thing seems like a chore these days and I have never liked doing chores. I want to play and be outside so if that means my house is going to look like a tornado hit it for a few weeks, then so be it. I have to have fun before I can do work. I don't know how some moms keep up with the house work.
Well, my blog must come to an end because my son is apparently ready to get up from his very short 40 min nap. Grrrrrr.

Need your opinion about car seats

2010-04-18T12:46:00.001-07:00

I am in the market for a car seat for Jake and I need your opinion. I was looking in to the convertible car seats that start out rear facing up to 35 lbs and then switch to forward facing up to 50 lbs. What did you use and did you like it?

Jake

2010-04-13T11:02:00.000-07:00

Our boy is growing up too fast. Every always says that and then you blink and it really is true. Jake is 7 months old today. He is cutting two teeth, been eating solids for the last month and growing out into 12 months clothes.
I feel much more rested since he started sleeping 12 hours plus thru the night. He was waking up 1-2 times during the night before we started him on solids and our pediatrician told us it was time to introduce solids. I knew he was right but I was not ready because of how easy breastfeeding is. Trying to figure out a new breasfeeding/solids schedule was a little challenging, but I think we finally have it figured out. I think Jake is going to be easy to wean. Not that I am in any hurry to wean. I would love to breastfeed until he is a year, but if he decides he isn't interested anymore then what more can I do. We are down to 4 times in a 24 hours period.
Jake's first solids food was rice cereal and he eat it up like a champ. He didn't spit any of it out and kept opening his mouth for more. His first fruit were pears, and first veggie were peas and loved them both. We have introduced oatmeal, peaches, applesauce, green beans, sweet potatoes, squash, prunes, and banana's. He loves them all. My new challenge this week will be making all of his baby food. I haven't been able to get started with it since we have been out of town so much. This week I plan to make most everything that he has already tried.
Jake wants to crawl so bad! He has been sitting up really well on his own since he was 5 months and now he is bored and ready to see the world. I often catch him rolling around the room or trying to pull his knees up to his chest. He has also been supporting himself on all fours but hasn't figured out how to move in that position yet. Soon enough and I will be crawling around the house at baby level to see what I need to put up so he doesn't choke on anything or get hurt in some other way.
I still love being a stay at home mom more then anything else in the world right now. It is so much fun to watch him change and each stage is more fun then the last.
Here are some update pics of him easting his first foods.

Workout week 1: Days 1-8

2010-04-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

OH my goodness I am so sore! I think every muscle in my body was pushed to the point of "ouch" last week.
Day 1- Weights (Chest, Back) and a 20 min bike ride
Day 2 - Plyometrics and a short walk with Jake
Day 3 - weights (Shoulders, Arms, Abs), short walk with Jake
Day 4 - Yoga and a walk
Day 5 - Weights (Legs, Back, Abs)
Day 6 - Kempo Karate
Day 7 - 20 min walk
I already feel better after only 1 week of working out and watching what I eat. My biggest down fall when it comes to food is sweets. I love sweets like a baby loves milk. If I see them, it takes a lot for me to refuse eating them. However, after I workout in the morning it really helps me avoid eating the bad stuff.
I almost never have junk food in the house. I eat fruit when I have a sweet craving, and I try to drink a protein shake if I am hungry in between meals. I have been focusing on eating 5 times a day which ends up being about every 3-4 hours. Ever since I started working out I am hungry all the time burning up all those extra calories. It almost feels like I am pregnant again. Hunger is a good sign that my metabolism is working great so I have no problem eating more because I know my body needs it.
Challenges I have had this week:
* it is really hard to commit to an hour of working out when I have a 7 month old to watch. My only option is during nap which means I have only one other nap to get other things done like my bible reading and house work.
* getting together with people always revolves around food so I have to be prepared when I go to functions. I know that I will refuse sweets when offered and most times I know ahead of time what to expect the meal to be so I plan on whether to eat a little bit before I go so only need to eat a very small portion of what is being served. This past Saturday we had a surprise Birthday Party for my husband and his twin brother. We had a roasted pig, baked beans, potato salad, coconut cream cake (my fav), brownies, chips, fruit, and homemade rolls. I did pretty well by serving myself a small spoonful of the beans and salad. I had more pork then anything because it rocked! I did end up having two small pieces of cake and a bite of a brownie and ice cream sandwich cake but I didn't feel over stuffed and stopped when I wasn't no longer hungry.
* I want to eat lunch at the camp more because it is free and saves me from having to cook but it isn't always the best choice in terms of health so I plan to eat a big salad for lunch and then have a small portion of whatever our chef is preparing. Sometimes you just have to improvise in order to save money and some time.
* I really need to get out and do some yard work or it will get out of hand and I will have more work to do. Yard work is fun, burns lots of calories when you are pulling weeds and digging in the dirt, but again, I have a baby I have to keep a close eye on. I guess that means I will have to wait until his bedtime at 7pm.
The following pics are from Joe and Josh's party. Enjoy!

Staying motivated to get results!

2010-04-09T08:42:00.000-07:00

I have decided to start blogging about my workouts. Not because I think you all would be interested but because I need something to keep me going at a steady pace. I never thought that I would come to this point in my life where I thought working out was too time consuming since that was my life 3 years ago. All I wanted to do was workout and stay in great shape. Now all I want to do is play with my son and keep the house clean. I am tired of not fitting into my pre-pregnancy clothes. I don't want to have to go out and buy a bigger size when I am only one size bigger then I was so I am going to learn to love working out once again.
One way that will help me stay motivated is for your encouraging words. The second way will be posting up pics of my progress. I have already taken my before photos which will be at the end of this blog. My goal is to have lost 10 pounds by the end of June. Not a lot of weight to lose but that will get me to my pre-pregnancy weight and allow me to where my cute clothes again. I am also going to post one blog each week about my workouts, nutrition, the pain I am in as well as a picture update once a month. If you struggle with your weight whether it be that you need to lose or gain weight or if you have other health problems which you would benefit from working out feel free to write me and ask. I love answering peoples questions about health.
Well here it is: April 2nd - Day 1 Pics

Puerto Rico = humidity, baby lovers and dead igauna's

2010-04-08T01:56:00.000-07:00

This is my first visit to a location that isn't connected to the states. I have been to Mexico 4 times and lived in Canada for 4 years, but never had to fly over water to get somewhere. We are staying with friends who are connected with the camp. They have been living here for almost 2 years as teachers in a Christian school. Joe was asked to come speak at their 3 day spring break retreat for the junior and high school kids.
It is now day three in Puerto Rico and so far the biggest unexpected surprise was the intense humidity! It should make sense, for the simple fact that we are on an Island and all. Is it like this in Hawaii? I hope not because I really want to visit that place. We may be taking a trip to Haiti this winter too so and I am really hoping I will be patient with the heat. I am not picky about very many things like I am the weather.
From what I have observed, Puerto Rico is America on an Island with Spanish speaking people. Every time I visit a place where spanish is spoken I always leave telling myself that I am going to learn to speak it as fluently as possible. This time I am serious and so is Joe. We decided we will find a language Program to help us learn. We also really want to improve on our French. We both know more French than Spanish, but when it comes to pronunciation I've got spanish down and Joe French. I don't know how many times I have had to tell Joe that the "H" is silent in spanish. He He!
Okay, some more about Puerto Rico.
The people here LOVE babies. I have never seen a culture of people love on a baby like they do here. It is crazy how obsessed they are over Jake. I went to visit Joe and the kids at the retreat Joe is speaking at today and I didn't get more than 3 feet in the door and we had a group of kids running at us and squealing over Jake. By the time I left I am pretty sure that Jake had been held by 30 kids and we were told about 15 times that Jake looks like the Gerber baby. What a nice compliment! Joe and I agreed.They couldn't stop saying "Que Lendo" which means "cute" in spanish. I keep kicking myself that I didn't enter him into the "Most Beautiful Baby" contest on Regis and Kelly this year. It would have been nice to meet Regis and Kelly and take home 25,000 bucks for Jake's college fund. Oh well, there is always next year.
I will post some pics in a later blog of our trip to Puerto Rico.

The Island is beautiful! They have beaches, Mountains, and Rain Forests. We took a day to go hiking in the mountains on Wed. It was much cooler in the mountains so it was nice to have a break from the humidity for a day. The drive up to our hiking location was long and the roads very windy. Traffic was crazy as well. You have to drive very aggressively like you would in Chicago except there aren't as many road rules. You just stick your nose out and go, no turn singles, and you get honked at a lot. Very much like Chicago. When it comes to road kill, it's not cats, dogs, deer, or raccoons. Puerto Rico have Iguana's like we have squirrel. On the East side of the island there is a road called Beach Road and there are always Iguana's sunning out on the shoulder of the road. Sometimes they just chill on the side or they decided to cross. I have never seen so much road kill and these are huge Iguana's. It is very common to see 10+ dead iguana's in the span of a few 100 feet and they are bigger then cats! I wish I could have taken a picture of one. Below are some pictures of our trip.

The last picture of the three of us on the plane was taken soon after take off on our way home. As you can see we had a whole row to ourselves. 20 min before this picture was taken we were sharing it with a 275 lb, over 6' 2" black guy that I would have had to rub shoulders with for 6 hours but luckily was asked to move to an exit seat so he had more room for his legs. After he moved, Joe mouthed to me, " There is a God!" We had a really long day of flying home since we didn't have a direct flight to Chicago. We had what I thought was going to be a miserable 6 hour flight to Minneapolis that arrived at 8:30pm IN time with a 90 min lay over and then a 60 min flight to Chicago that arrived at 12:15am IN time. We didn't get Jake to bed until 2am. From the time we left Puerto Rico at 3pm to the time we had him down for bed he only cried for no more then 3 of those mins. He was incredibly good for us that day. I even got to hold him while he slept for 1.5 hours on the plane. It amazes me how well he handled such a crazy day and could sleep through a noisy plane ride. We are truly blessed with an easy, go with the flow baby. Now I don't think I will ever want to fly with him again until he is 5 years old, but if I had to do it again I won't be as stressed out over it. I think my blood pressure rose about 50 points that day because of how worried I was. We are back to our regular life at home. It is great to be back in IN, just in time for spring weather. Goodbye March!

I am a little behind

2010-04-07T18:35:00.000-07:00

We are finally home from our 3 week adventures away from home. March was a fun one because it was spent away from Indiana. I get so antsy in March because we are at the end of winter but Spring can't come fast enough so for me to be gone most of that month was a blessing.
Our first 10 days were spent on Anna Maria Island in Florida with my mom and dad, sisters, and future brother-in-law. Joe and I made the 18 hour drive starting on Wed after a morning appointment for Jake's 6 month wellness check up in Kokomo, IN. We broke up the drive into 2.5 days spending the night at our friends house in Knoxville one night and a hotel the second night. Jake was an angel on the way down. I love how he adjusts to new things and places so easily. I won't bore you with all the details about our time in Florida because all we really did was take walks on the beach and lay out at our private pool. It was so nice to have my parents and sister around to help out with Jake. Joe and I were able to get away at least once a day for a few hours. I wish they lived closer.

The weather was great everyday. No rain during the day. Temps in the mid to upper 60's and lower 70's. A little windy some days on the beach.

The picture of Joe at the sign was a great place to eat ribs and other good stuff we tried, like a philly cheese steak. Joe was pretty excited that it was his trail name on the AT. The next picture was just something funny that was displayed at the restaurant. I just thought it was funny to see a skeleton take a leak.

The most amazing Creamy Chicken Enchiladas ever!

2010-03-14T07:36:00.000-07:00

The Wisley's are in Florida for the next 8 days. We arrived last Friday after 2 1/2 days in the car we finally made it to our destination on Anna Maria Island just south of Tampa Bay. We are staying at a condo called Beside Still Waters just a block off the beach. The best thing about this trip beside the sun and beach is our free stay. "How did you get a free stay right off the beach?" I knew you would ask! Well this four condo building is free for people working in the ministry. Lucky for us, we serve in the ministry at Rainbow Christian Camp. So, if any of you out there work in the ministry and want a free place to find rest by yourself or with your family this is a great place to do it. All you have to do is put in an request 6 months in advance of the dates you want and they will let you know if it is available on those dates.
My parents, along with my sisters and future brother-in-law are in the condo next to us. My dad is a pastor so he was able to request a free stay as well. It has been a lovely time, especially since Joe and I can sneak away with the help of 5 babysitters in the condo next door.
Jake had his first swim in a big bathtub (the pool) yesterday. He really liked having his feet in the water, but once his whole body was in he promptly let us know he was not a huge fan of the slightly chilly water. It was a little windy yesterday which could have been part of the problem.
Okay now to tell you about my mom's amazing Enchiladas. I usually don't care for this Mexican meal but now that I have tasted my mom's I want to share this tasty and easy recipe with you.

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas
1 Tbsp butter
1 med onion, chopped
1 chopped red pepper
1 can chopped green chiles
2 diced jalepenos
8oz of cream cheese cut up and softened
3 1/2 cups of chopped and cooked chicken breast
8 - 8 in tortillas
8 oz monterary jack cheese, shredded
1-2 cups of whipping cream

melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat; add oniona dn red pepper and jalepenos and saute for 5 min. Add green chiles; saute 1 min. Stir in cream cheese and chicken; cook stirring constantly until cream cheese melts.
Spoon 2-3 Tbsp of mixture down center of torillas. Roll them up and place in lightly greased baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese and drizzle the whipping cream all over! Bake at 350 for 45 min uncovered.
Serve with salsa, guacamole and sour cream. Yum! Soooooo good!

Let me know if you like them.
Hope all of you up north aren't getting hit with too much rain.

Nobody is Perfect, Right?

2010-03-02T11:19:00.000-08:00

So I have been doing a lot of praying here lately. When I say, a lot, I mean, A LOT! Before I became a mom life was far different as it is for me now, of course. I thought I had this whole parenting thing figured out. I spent a lot of time babysitting for families since I was 13. I was a full time nanny for a 6 month old, 10 month old, 2 year old twin girls, and a four year old boy all at the same time when I was 18-19. I have spent a lot of time being around kids and for what it's worth, getting a descent amount of experience being a part-time parent. I watched one of the kids walk for the first time, even before his parents did. I taught him sign language because I was tired of hearing the whining. I put them down for naps, read them books, bathed them, sang to them, played hide and go seek with them, kissed their boo-boo's, fed them, took them to the park and the pool. It was a very exhausting job but my most favorite job of all! I must admit, I was a good babysitter. People trusted me with their little ones. I don't know why, but I am glad they did and it made me feel good to know that parents liked me, even better, the kids loved me! Now that I am a parent, that changes my whole perspective on what being a parent is all about. I've been humbled since having Jake. I don't have this parenting thing all figured out!
I am an observer. I like to watch people and I've had a lot of time watching my friends parent their children. (You know you have done the same thing so I am not afraid to admit it). I may have raised an eyebrow a few times when a kid throws a fit because they refuse to listen, but you will be doing the same thing when my kids throws a fit and I don't know what to do about it! I now realize how imperfect we all are as parents, as well as our kids. I have been humbled, realizing that all of us parents make mistakes. We all have imperfections in our parenting techniques. We probably all start out in our pre-parent stage thinking we know exactly what we want out of our kids, what rules we will have in the home, how we will discipline, what behavior we will never put up with, etc. Boy was I incredible wrong! How ignorant and arrogant I was!
So now I am praying for God's wisdom in parenting. How does God parent us and want us to parent our little ones. I am being challenged in my journey as a first time mom already. I feel sorry for Jake since he is the first born and I will make plenty of mistakes on him. I hope he will forgive me when I mess up. It won't be too much longer when Jake will be pushing the limits and testing his mommy and daddy's will. Hopefully he will be the one bending his will to us and not the other way around. Will I ever have this figured out? Wait, don't tell me, cause I am afraid I won't like the answer.
This is completely off subject but we have four rabbits that live behind our house and I have been watching them run back and forth in the back yard carrying dried grass in their mouths to our back porch. They must be making a nice warm bed for an expected liter coming soon. Bummer! More rabbits to deal with. Anyone want to cute little bunny for a pet? Or maybe I could wait until there are enough of them and make a fur coat out of them! Or, I could start a rabbit farm and make rabbit stew! So many possibilities.

Picture updates

2010-02-24T10:29:00.000-08:00

My sister Heather and Jake about a month ago in North Carolina!

Jake in his new favorite thing!

My sister Kim

Jake in his new Flat Cap

Eating Maximus's lip.

My Dad

My Mom

Maximus loves to lay on Jake and Jake loves Maximus

Dreams: Jaguars, Zombies, and Flying

2010-02-24T09:41:00.000-08:00

Night dreams are one of the most peculiar things in life to me. You never know when you are going to have one and you never know what it is going to be about and/or why you have the dreams you have in the first place. The one thing I have noticed about dreams is that something, someone, or some incident in my life at the present time almost always makes it's way in my dream.

Last night was one of those nights for me. I could blame it on the Chinese food I had for dinner but that is not always the case for me. My dream started out at my place of college education. I was actually flying all over campus, not in a plane, but was flying like Super Man, but without the cape. As I was in the air I noticed a couple of friends who played on the football team, Milano and Adrian. Milano called up to me and asked me to walk with them. Well, I hadn't practiced my landing skills very well because I fell fast enough to the ground that I got some pretty intense butterflies in my stomach. As I walked with them Milano mentioned something about some other guy who told him he wouldn't kiss me before the other guy got the chance too. Weird, I know, but hey, I can't control what I dream about. Next we were in a house that Joe and I lived in and a home inspector showed up to inspect the safety of the house. He ended up telling us that the house needed to be torn down because it wasn't safe enough to live in since it wouldn't withhold a Hurricane! Ha Ha! When was the last time a hurricane went tearing through central IN? At the end of that dream some people from camp came over and we all ate some sort of Pineapple dessert that was cooked inside the peel of the pineapple. It was yummy!
My next dream was about my two sisters and I dancing to broadway songs on an icy sidewalk outside of a really big building. I ended up falling and breaking my phone. All three of us sat off to the side of a very wide sidewalk while people walked by. Completely out of anyone's path a kid walked up to us and told us that we were in the way and needed to move. I cursed under my breath as we moved to a bench to continue fixing my phone. All of a sudden the dream changed scenes. I was in an older glorified dorm room with furniture. My sister-in-law Denise was with me and we were eating lunch. We dirtied a lot of the kitchen's dishes so I started to wash them. Denise made a pile of dishes to wash. Included in that pile was about 25 ziplock bags that she wanted me to wash. Now, at my house, I wash and reuse these bags so this isn't unusual for me, but in my dream I thought Denise was crazy. I told her I wasn't going to wash her ziplocks. She got mad and pulled monkey bread out of the oven and asked me what we were going to put the bread in if I wasn't going to wash the bags.
Next scene I am in a big field with several trees all around me and being chased by a big elephant! He charges me over and over again, hitting me a couple of times but without doing any real damage. I try to escape him, but he is too fast for me so I decide to hide behind trees and see if he will lose interest and leave me alone. All of a sudden my sister is approaching a huge leopard and attempting to tame him. Without knowing the results of my sister's leopard taming skills we move onto taking a nap in a dorm room but constantly being interrupted by a black Jaguar who has been trying to claw his way through the door. Too tired to put up with this jaguars crap I bravely walk out of the room, charge the jag and hold his mouth shut with my hands as he tries to bite me. My next move is to bang his head up against the wall to knock him out so I can get some sleep. I end up beating his head over and over until he goes limp, crushing his skull and killing him!
On Sunday night I had dreams about Zombies chasing me, and that was after watching the movie Zombie Land with some friends. A slightly gory movie, but pretty funny. I'm not usually a fan of zombie movies but this one was worth watching.
Well, there you have it. What kind of weird dreams have you had lately?

Shopping for Jeans is not fun anymore

2010-02-18T12:04:00.000-08:00

I went shopping today with a friend at a cute little boutique of gently used clothes in Gas City. I was in the market for a new pair of jeans since I am still wearing my maternity jeans. That hurts to admit because I thought I would have been back in my pre-preggo clothes by now! Ugh! I walked into the boutique wearing confidence on my sleeve and went straight for the size 6 rack thinking that I could probably squeeze into a wide leg pair of 6's. On my way to the fitting room I grabbed a couple of size 8 jeans off the rack just in case. Well, that "just in case" came a lot faster then I wanted it to when I couldn't even pull the 6's up over my child bearing hips! I wanted to scream out loud! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! "Are you kidding me." I thought to myself. I knew deep down that they wouldn't fit, fit, but I figured I would be able to get them over my hips. "Okay, moving on." Now to try a slightly bigger size. "Hey at least I am not in the double digits!" I again thought to myself. Being a small boned, short and petite girl I think being under a size ten is very reasonable. I took a deep breath and without hesitation put my right leg into the pant and then the left. With a little jump and a tug I was able to slide them over my hips! "Yes!" Now to get them zipped up and buttoned. Success! Sort of. They were zipped and buttoned, but as far as the comfort of the fit, they are so-so. At least it will help motivate me to lose a couple more pounds so that I didn't waste my money on them. I would have never spent full price for them since they came from The Gap so at least I only paid 1/4 of what they would have been new. How depressing! I used to like shopping for clothes. Oh well! Jake was worth it.

Scrambled Part Two

2010-02-16T16:26:00.000-08:00

My weekend turned out pretty great considering that I only slept for an hour on Friday night. Sunday night was wonderful! My little boy decided to go 11 hours before getting up to eat! That was a great Valentine's Day present from him. I hope he keeps this up!
I brought up my thoughts about living a life God calls us to live to my wonderful husband Joe on Saturday night. I love talking to him about where I am in my walk with Christ and all the questions I have about the Bible. I respect his thoughts and he always has a lot of good advice and is able to help me sort through my scrambled thoughts. We both ended up feeling like we really wanted to pursue this mystery of what it looks like for us to live a Holy life in our day in age.
The following lyrics are a song called Help Me Believe by Nicole Nordeman. I love her lyrics and this song describes a lot of what I am feeling at this point in my spiritual walk.

Take me back to the time
When I was maybe eight or nine
And I believed
when Jesus walked on waters blue
and If he helped me I could to
If I believed
Before rational analysis and systematic thinking
Robbed me of a sweet simplicity
When wonders and when mysteries
Were far less often silly dreams
and Childhood fantasies
CHORUS:
Help me believe
'cause I don't want to miss any miracles
Maybe i'd see
Much better by closing my eyes
and I would shed this grown up skin I'm in
To touch an Angels wing
And I would be free
Help me believe
When mustard seeds made mountians move
A burning bush that spoke for you
was good enough
when manna fell from heavens high
Just because you told the sky to open up
Am I to wise to recognize that everything uncertain
is certainly a possibility
When logic fails my reasoning
and science crushes underneath
The weight of all that is unseen
CHORUS
When someone elses education
plays upon my reservation
I'm the first to cave
I'm the first to bleed
If I abandoned all that seeks
To make my faith informed and chic
Could you?
would you?
show your self to me?

It's almost like the world I live in has desensitized itself to what it means to live with Christ. Our focus is all wrong. We live for ourselves and no one else. We don't rely on God anymore because we don't need him. Well, we really do need God, it just seems to be easy to forget that we need him in modern day, especially with all the money this country has! It seems to be that the less we have the more we rely on God. It brought me to think of as many people I know that I admire and look up too for the way they live their life and who I would go to for advice. I could only think of 2, maybe 3 people who I truly look up too. Wow! Then I began to think about me and the kind of person I want to be know as after I die.
"oh Melissa was a nice person"
"Melissa was a good mom and wife"
Boy would that be depressing or what! I sure hope I can start to figure out what this holy way of living is supposed to look like for my life. What do I need to get rid of in my life that distracts me from God. Probably TV for a start. I am addicted to so many shows. Food is another one of those distractions. Maybe I should fast? You wouldn't think food could distract you from God but why does the Bible talk so much about fasting if it's not an important spiritual discipline. We sure have plenty food in this country. Not very many starving people around here, and yet people are dying across the world from starvation and we continue to waste our money away on sports, movies, electronics, cars, big houses(gotta keep up with the Jones'). I could go on but I don't need to because you could name a few in your own minds. Why are those things such a necessity? They aren't coming with us when we die! I know it is important to have a reliable and safe car when you have a family, and such, but I can't think of very many things that I couldn't live without.
So I am still seeking answers to what a holy life looks like. It's not about how often I read my Bible, or pray, or go to church. It's a good thing God is the only one that knows my heart. No one can judge me, and if they do, it isn't going to make a difference as to whether I go to heaven or not. I just hope that I can grow and mature into the woman of integrity that God intended for me to be, that's all. I only want to God to find favor with me like he did with those in the bible. God still performs miracles. He heals, protects, provides, and comforts. We just may not see it as much because we aren't looking or don't believe he will.
Mark 9:23 Everything is possible for him who believes."
"I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief!"

Scrambled Thoughts

2010-02-13T03:19:00.000-08:00

So it is currently 4:39am and I can't seem to sleep. We watched the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics until 11pm and decided we had been bored for long enough and it was time to go to bed. I feed Jake one last time and headed to bed, hopefully until 6am when Jake would wake up to eat. I am not sure why I am awake right now feeling like I could run a mini marathon. It could be the fact that I drank two cups of cafinated coffee around 9pm and sugared up on birthday cake and ice cream for Joe's mom's birthday dinner. Or it could be the Lord trying to get my attention about something. So, at my failed attempt to try fall asleep for the past 5 hours I gave up and spent sometime praying and asking him to speak. Maybe I shouldn't be on the computer after asking him that, but sometimes it just helps me relax when I can write out everything that goes on in my mind when I feel restless. Right before I got out of bed feeling defeated by my inability to fall asleep, the verses that talk about Jesus staying up all night to pray popped into my head so I thought I should just get up and go with it. My prayer life has always seemed to be one of the hardest spiritual disciplines for me to perfect. I have always felt like a prayer failure instead of a prayer warrior. This year one of my goals was to read the Bible through twice this year. Here is a thought that some of you may have thought of before that I have never thought of so tell me what you think. Of all the stories in the Bible about people who followed God in the Old and New Testament, God appeared, in some form or another, to them and told them what to do when, where, how, and not necessarily why. If they did what they were asked to do by God they were fully blessed by him and so were their descendants. If they didn't do what God asked they were destroyed, well at least before Christ died on the cross(Pause: I am really struggling with how to explain my thoughts so bare with me. Hence the title of this blog cause I might be all over the place). If you follow Christ, think about the way you live as a follower today. Go ahead, take a moment and think, how do you follow Christ compared to the way people did in the Bible. I am not trying to make you feel guilty or less of a person at all or try to tell you how righteous of a person I am, cause I am far from where I want to be. I am just really beginning to search my heart and where I am in my walk with Christ. It has been really easy for me to say that I follow Christ, go to church, tithe, and a "GOOD" person. Is that all I have to do to be a Christ follower? I'm sure it isn't and that is why I am looking at the way I live my life and compare it to all the prophets, apostles, and leadersGod appeared to in the Bible. Now those guys, and girls had a real relationship with Christ. The other day during one of my daily Bible readings I paused to think about how cool it had to have been for all those that God had appeared to or heard God speak too and work through. Take Moses for example. He was a nobody until God showed up to him in a bush and told him he was going to use him to save the Israelites. Woa God! You want to use a nobody to lead thousand of people out of the land of slavery? Crazy! What did Moses do? He led them out after God showed the big bad Egyptians that God wasn't going to let them win. Sure they had to wander through the desert for 40 years before they arrived at the land flowing with milk and honey but all the ways God provided for them along the way and not to mention the ways he protected them from harm is just so cool to me. Those that decided they weren't going to listen to God were killed by the people that followed God because God told them to finish them. How neat for those people to get to see the pillar of fire and smoke lead them through the desert! Or how about walking on the floor of the Red Sea with two huge walls of water on either side of you? So many other stories like that and here I am reading them thinking about how cool it would be if being a follower today was like it was in the Bible. Then I thought, "well why can't it be?" How silly of me to think that God isn't, won't, can't work in us today like he did then. Maybe he doesn't because we won't let him, or don't believe that he can, or will use us like he used Abraham, Joseph, Noah, Esther, Paul and all his disciples etc.(Hold that thought. Need to go feed Jake. Back in a moment) This Holy and Righteous life that men and women in the Bible were called to follow must have been pretty stinking important to God and is still just as important to him today. Now I know there were just as many wicked people in the world then as there are today, but how often to you hear stories in this present time that were similar to stories you read from the Bible. For me, it isn't very often that I physically see God's hand at work. Sure I can tell you of some cool things that has happened in my life that I am 100% certain it was God's hand at work, but it just doesn't compare to what I am reading. The questions I have started to ask myself in the last few weeks is, "how do I measure up to the men and women of faith in the Bible?" What does living a righteous and holy life actually look like? God asks us to seek him and we will know him. What does it mean to seek him? What does true faith feel like? I feel the church today has lost it's touch with the way God has called us to live. What was it about people in the Bible that made God speak out loud too, or randomly appear too? I know I would pee my pants if God showed up out of no where in my living room! Maybe I am thinking too much? Or maybe I am asking the right questions for me and only me? Am I the only one who feels this way, or asks these questions? Another thing I noticed in the OT was the long number of years that people lived back then. Was it because they were stronger in their faith and God wanted them to stick around longer so he could use them to help people? Sounds like a dumb question after I read it, but I have always been told that no question is a dumb one.
Well it is now 6:10am and I think I have done all the thinking I can handle right now. thanks for listening and letting me spill my thoughts on you. Now for me to try and sleep a little before Jake wakes up for the day! I am predicting my Saturday isn't going to be as relaxing as I want it to be. Especially since we have a nephew's birthday party to attend today. Oh boy! Happy weekend readers and Happy Valentines Day!

First time cold for Baby Jake

2010-02-10T12:51:00.000-08:00

Well the last two days in the Wisley house has been fun... NOT! Jake somehow picked up a cold, I think. Unless he is teething, which I am pretty sure he isn't since he sounds so congested and has been sleeping like it is his job! I will admit it kind of hurts my pride that he got sick since I pride myself on how healthy our house has been for the past two years. It figures that the one to get sick would be the one person in my house that doesn't understand why he feels like crap and I can't tell him why I have to keep using the bogger sucker on his nose and wipe his runny nose every two minutes. Thankfully I think he is feeling better today. Yet another reason why to hate winter! Nasty colds attacking out of nowhere!
I have been debating on when to start Jake on solids and with the help of some good friends decided that I will continue to stick with only breastmilk until he is more interested in eating solids. He is still growing and seems completely satisfied. To be honest I am not ready to start solids since breastfeeding is so much easier! I used to think that I would look forward to seeing breastfeeding coming to a end, but now that we got the hang of it I feel it comes natural to me now. It also helps that Jake eats A LOT faster now too. The first two months it took 45 min to feed him and now it only take 15-20 minutes.
Jake will be 5 months old on Saturday. He has changed so much the last two weeks. He giggles and laughs a lot more now and we are even working on sitting up too. We also set up the Johnny Jump Up for him last week. I was surprised to see him in it this early. I figured it would be another 2 months before he would be ready to play in it.

I am still faithful to my no-shampoo experiment. It has been 4 weeks since I washed my hair with shampoo. I got a haitcut last week and that helped tremendously with the dry dead ends. I think I picked a good time to experiment since I don't get out much this time of the year. I have been going about 6-8 days before I use one part baking soda to 4 parts water to wash my hair. It looks and feels pretty close to how it felt when I was using shampoo and conditioner.

We are a month away from our vacation to Florida! We will be spending 10 days along the Gulf and then 7 days in Puerto Rico. Joe is speaking at a school that our friend works with so that trip is labeld more of a work trip for him. I am just going along to hang out with Lindsay, Craigs' wife, who also works at the school. The only places I have visted besides other U.S states is Mexico and Canada where I lived for four years.

Well, that is about all I can share about my boring old life for now. I am so looking forward to April! The first 3 months of the year are always a drag for me. Thankfully we will be in wamer places for 3 out of 4 weeks in March!

Dirty Hair Update!

2010-01-20T16:42:00.000-08:00

I am amazed at my hair right now! I haven't washed it in a week and today I decided it was time to wash it, but not with Shampoo, I used baking soda! It felt so weird as I poured the paste all over my head and scrubbed my scalp with it. After I rinsed my hair actually felt like I had just put conditioner in it and I also used the soda to scrub my face. It was a great exfoliator! The big test was what my hair looked and felt like after I dried it. I normally let it air dry but today I used a blow dryer because I was too impatient to wait and let's be honest, blow drying your hair just seems to make your hair look better in my opinion. So here are some pics of my new hair. So fresh and so clean and without the chemicals!

My pathetic sexy pose.

Oh so shiny! I love it. Now all I need is a good hair cut and it will look even healthier!

Need Help Moms!

2010-01-20T11:09:00.000-08:00

OK! So I posted this on my facebook status as well and I have already gotten a few responses but I am up for more advice when it comes to helping me figure out how to transition Jake into an early bedtime routine. Jake is 4 months old so think back to when your kids were that age! He is a great sleeper when he is sleeping and I don't have to rock or nurse him to sleep. He goes down being swaddled and with a pacifier wide awake and falls asleep on his own. No loud toys or bright lights are in his room when I put him down. He is in a dark room with a fan on low.
So far here is his whole routine throughout the day.
7am - Wake up and eat
7:30a-9:45a - Back to bed
9:45 - 11:15a - Eat time, play time for 1-1.5 hours
11:15- 12:45p - Nap for about 1.5-2 hours
12:45-2p - Eat, play
2-3:30 or 4p - nap (1.5-2 hours)
3:30 - 4:30 or 5p - Eat/play
5p-6or 6:30pm - Nap
6:30 - 8p - Eat/Play
8p - try to put down for bed and he will fall asleep
9p- wakes up not acting tired or hungry so we get him up and wait until he acts hungry, feed him, and put him back to bed. He usually will sleep for another hour or little longer and wake up again and by 10:30-11pm will be out for the rest of the night.
I don't know if you see the pattern there. He is asleep for 1.5-2 hours and awake for about the same amount of time. His wake time is usually shorter then his sleep time because he always shows signs of being tired at right about an hour of being awake. I then will change him, swaddle him and put him down without but more then a kiss on the forehead and he is out within 5-10 mins.
I feel like I need to shorten his morning nap and then he can have a longer afternoon nap, and a third, but short late afternoon nap and then try to get him down for the night around 8-9pm.
What do you all think and what did you do with your 4-5 month olds?

Dirty Hair: cause I'm a hippy like that!

2010-01-19T18:28:00.000-08:00

Well! Well! Has it really been over two weeks since my last post? The days pass by so quickly and yet, I complain about being bored. I must not be if time flies by like it has. We have been keeping busy. Jake sure helps the days go by quickly but I find that after a couple of days with nothing planned my cabin fever creeps up on me and attacks viciously without warning. Even a trip to the grocery store keeps me sane. For some reason getting out of the house for an hour works to keep cabin fever symptoms to a minimum.
To catch you up. Last week I decided a couple of things. I decided I am not going to wash my hair for a while, or maybe never again. "Why," you ask? I knew you would ask. Well, I have decided that I am not happy with my hair and that could partly be from having well water which dries it out even though we have a softener. Two years ago I switched from washing my hair everyday to only every 3 days and that was helping. Now, I just want to experiment with the no-poo hair and see what happens. I googled it and found several people that support the idea and have been poo-free, some for 6 months, and others 12 months or longer. I also have a friend who tried it for a few weeks but broke down and used shampoo. She says that there is a transition point that your hair goes through to get used to not being chemically stripped of it's natural oils. So far it has been a week and it's not that bad... yet! My hair obviously feels different. Not dirty, but certainly not fresh. Joe says that I'm a hippy! Oh well, I did have my baby at home! So be it! I am a hippy in more ways then one. I will keep you updated on the process. Here is a link if you are curious: http://1greengeneration.elementsintime.com/?p=365
The second thing I decided was to learn to knit. The same friend that didn't wash her hair for a few weeks knits and she has inspired me to start. She loaned me a set of needles, a book and gave me some cheap yarn to start with. I haven't started yet. It is kind of hard to get it going with all the stay-at-home mommy things I do during the day. I also tend to procrastinate when it comes to learning something new. Don't know why, but I do. I hope I learn quickly because I know I will give it up if I don't and I would love to be able to make things other than scarves and pot holders.
Well I am out of words to write. It is late, the baby is fed, I have watched Idol and The Bachelor and it's time for bed. Hope you all are having a great day and not stuck inside like me. Call me if you want to hang out!

Looking back and moving on

2010-01-01T06:29:00.000-08:00

I have never been a New Year resolutions kind of person so don't expect me to write a list of goals for this new year. I think goals are important, but for me, the need to change a part of my life shouldn't wait until the start of a new year, it should start right away. I understand it makes it so much easier to wait until the New Year. Maybe just because it is easier to keep track of how I'm doing with the goals I set for myself. The only thing that I have decided to start this Jan 1st 2010 is to read the Bible twice thru. I have already read it once thru a couple of times in a year so I need a new challenge. Joe and I have set a financial goal for ourselves, but who doesn't. We all want to get a better hold on our money and not be stupid with it like we have been for the last 7 years of our marriage. We finally feel that we are going to be faithful to a budget which is exciting! We have never been in a lot of debt, but what little debt we are in we would like to get out of sooner than later.

Looking back on 2009 I would say that we lived a good one. We spent our first full year at Rainbow Christian Camp and we love being here. Of course the best part about 2009 was bringing Jake Owen into our lives! Other then that it was just another year for me. I don't feel like I accomplished a whole lot last year, but I am happy and content with where God has put us and I'm looking forward to another year.

One thing I would like to work on for this year would be to find ways to do more then just live and exist. Last year I didn't live outside of myself or comfort zone very much at all. I would like to find different ways to make more of a difference in this world then just go about my life being home most of the time watching TV or cleaning the house. I know that Jake is growing up quickly and learning a lot from the way Joe and I live our lives, so I want to do my best at teaching him that there are more important things in life than keeping his room clean. I hope that he can learn to love helping others and understand the importance of being generous as well as building others up. I feel our world is full of too much sarcasism and needs more affirmation. Sarcasism can be funny, but hurtful at the same time and makes people forget how to give a compliment so I hope Jake blesses others with his words.

I am excited to live out a different year and hope to follow the dreams God gives me.

Christmas with the Wisley's

2009-12-27T07:56:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to all my followers, if any of you actually still follow this blog. I haven't written in several weeks so I just wanted to give a quick update on how the Wisley's have been doing.
Joe and I spent a few days apart before Christmas because he worked with his brother in Bedford to make some much needed cash. When we returned on Wednesday afternoon we opened gifts that we got for each other. I got a gun holster for my hand gun, hunting coveralls for next years hunting season, the BigTop cupcake bakeware that you may have seen on infomercials on TV, and a 4 foot frame that Joe and his brother made me to display our A.T stuff. Oh and he got me this really warm and soft blanket that is just like a blanket Jake has, which I love! After opening gifts we packed up the car, loaded the dog, the baby and ourselves and headed to Chicago for Christmas to visit with my parents, sisters, Aunt, Uncle, Cousins and future Brother-in-law. It was a good trip aside from the freak freezing rain storm on the way there. We watched several cars slide off the road in front of us. It took us 4 hours to get to mom and dad's which wasn't bad considering how slow we had to drive until we reached 80-94. Jake is normally a good baby when we travel, but this time he decided to surprise us with a fit. It was probably my fault since I swaddled him in his car seat and when we got to my parents he was soaking in his own sweat! Poor guy! I thought he was throwing a fit because he was overtired. We spent Chrismas day opening a few gifts with my family and then headed to my Aunt's house for a Ham dinner. My cousin had identical twin boys last week and they were able to make it out of the house so we could see the boys! They are so precious and made me miss my little guy when we was a few weeks old.

This is a picture of the Panda blanket my mom made for Jake to go with his black and white room at home.

The frame Joe made for me to display our Appalachian Trail map, pics, and completion certificates and patches.

Jake is now 15 weeks old and grows cuter everyday. He rolled over from his belly to his back for the first time last week! He also giggled a little for me too! The picture above was taken a few weeks ago. His neck is becoming so strong. He is so close to losing the bobble head!

The last picture is of our favorite dog in the whole world Maximus. He has been with us for a year on January 1st. He was a Christmas gift last year and is probably the best gift I have ever gotten! Here he is with his cousin Zeke's santa outfit on that Denise got for him. He wasn't to exciting about wearing it as you can see. The best part are the bells on his cloak that jingle when he walks around!

Well, that is about all for now until I decide to write another blog three weeks from now. Hope you all had a great Christmas!

I'm not complaining, just explaining!

2009-12-03T07:52:00.000-08:00

Life is a little boring right now, but I am going to blog about it anyway. I tend to be a pessimist and hate that about myself so I decided I was going to work on reducing the negativity in my life, so if it seems as though I am complaining, I'm not, I am just explaining. I seem to get this way during the months of Dec-March because it's cold out and I love being outside, but not when it is cold and windy. Last winter we adopted our dog Maximus and I took him for walks everyday even if it was 15 degrees out only because we were working on training him to go on walks without pulling on his leash and eventually to walk without the need to be leashed. Now that we have Jake, it is too cold to take him out, so I am stuck in this little house doing my best to keep the television off and workout, clean, read and nap(if possible) instead of sitting in front of the boob toob all day long. Poor Maximus lays around bored to death and day dreams about life before the baby. I have actually enjoyed having the TV off because it has pushed me to do the things that I hate doing, but when they are done I feel so much better about myself. I started to workout out consistantly this week and it feels so good to get back into my normal routine of breathing hard and sweating it out. I feel energized and sleep a little better at night because of it. Joe and I are going to Florida and Puerto Rico in March so we have 3.5 months to get into bathing suit shape again. I was looking at my pictures of what I looked like before we hiked the AT and it depressed me a little because I looked so good! I don't feel that I look terrible now, but I have not had to work this hard to look better in a long time. I am just thankful that I don't need to loose more than 15 pounds, unlike so many Americans today who are 50+ lb overweight.
Thanksgiving was spent in Bedford this year with all of Joe's side of the family. We stayed with Josh(Joe's twin) and his wife Denise. They have a black lab, Zeke, that Maximus loves to play with. I had a total of three thanksgiving meals this year. One with Joe's mom, a second with Joe's Dad, and a third with my sister-in-law's parents. Sadly we did not make the trip up to Chicago to visit with my side. Traveling with a 2.5 month old is tiring and stressful so we have made the shift from visiting boths sides of the family to only one side per holiday.
Being back home from the holidays is nice but the pessimistic side of me wishes we weren't home as much because of how boring life can get being at home doing the same thing everyday. Even though I would have to do the same thing anywhere else it doesn't seem as boring when I am not at home.
Wake up to feed Jake, burb and change him, play until he gets cranking for a nap, get some house work done while Jake naps and then do it all over again four times before it's time for bed. I can't say that I miss the life I had before he came into it, but there are times when I day dreams about my adventure hiking the AT and wish that I could have lived out a couple more dreams before we decided to start a family. Don't get me wrong I love having a son and wouldn't go back and change anything if I had the oppotunity to. I love seeing him grow, smile, jibber/jabber, and suck on his fingers. He is becoming so much more observant over the week. One day Jake will be apart of the dreams we have to put on hold for a few years. I hope he likes hiking!
I thought about training for the mini- marathon in Indy this May and was excited about it until I realized I would have to start training for it out in the cold. Ehhhh, think I will pass on the mini for at least this year.
Christmas is pretty much here and although I love this holiday more than any other I loath Christmas shopping! I really don't care to shop unless I know what I am going for and since I never really know what I want to get people I usually don't end up going. Joe loves getting gifts for others so he does a good job of going into any store, not having any idea what he is going to get someone and coming out with something cool. I have decided the only people I am shopping for this year are Joe and Jake. Gift exchange is not my thing lately. I find it a waste of money to exchange to gift with someone who doesn't need it when there are so many other people who are in need, and I end up with something that I may like, but end up not using it enough.
Well, those are my thoughts in a nutshell. My feet are cold so I am going to put on some socks and drink some tea. If you feel like cheering me up send me a comment that will make me laugh or something. (It may sound like I am in a bad mood, but I am not. It just may sound that way)

Stay away from Fabric Softner. Use this instead!

2009-11-20T17:34:00.000-08:00

Go to this website and read about fabric softners and why you shouldn't use them anymore. Baking Soda and Vinager are cheap and safe and can do so much more than just clean and soften your clothes. Check it out!
http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/02/08/the_toxic_danger_of_fabric_softener_and_dryer_sheets.htm

What's your Love Language

2009-11-20T14:19:00.000-08:00

Several years ago I read the book "The Five Love Languages" and discovered my top love languages. The five are: Recieving Gifts, Acts of Service, Quality Time Spent, Physical Touch and Words of Affirmation.
My top two are Quality Time Spent and Acts of Service with Words of Affirmation coming in third place.
Recently I have been asking my close friends what their top two love languages are so that I can have a better understanding of my friends needs and how I can be a better friend to them by showing them that I care for them the way they need to feel loved by me. It really helps to know this because usually the languages that are low on my list are the ones that are high on the list of my friends which can make this a big challenge for me. My husbands love languages are completely opposite from me. He needs words of affirmation and physical touch to feel loved by others. At least the physical touch part by me. I am so bad at meeting his needs because I don't share those same need so I often don't think to compliment him or give him touch as much since I don't need those things to feel loved. Boy! I wish it was easier, but it isn't!
So what's your love language?

Jake's First Check-up

2009-11-13T15:53:00.000-08:00

Today Jake is two months old and Jake had his very first doctors visit today in Kokomo. He is as healthy as can be and the Doctor was impressed with how strong Jake is at two months old. He weighed in at 13lb and is 24 inches long. So he has gained nearly 5 lb in the last 8.5 weeks and grew 3.5 inches. I wish I could post some more pics but my computer won't let me.
All is well in the Wisley household! Jake slept from 9:30-5am for me. It was awesome to wake up and not feel tired when I fed him. 6.5 hours of sleep was wondefrul and I was able to get another 2 hours after I fed him so I didn't feel the need to nap today. First time since he was born I didn't need a nap.
He is smiling a ton lately and very close to giggling for us. He likes to talk to me right after I feed him and while he is settling in his crib for a nap if he spits his pacifier out, which doesn't happen very often anymore because he is able to hold it in his mouth so much better now.
Jake still spits up a lot when I feed him but it should last too much longer from what I hear. Nursing is going well and he is nursing a lot faster now so I don't feel like I am feeding him all the time even though he still eats about every 3 hours.
I love having him on a schedule during the day. It makes things so much easier for me because I know what he needs when he cries 95% of the time. I have been using a Feed time/ Wake Time/Sleep Time schedule and it has worked great! Sometime he tries to fall asleep on me when I nurse him so I do all I can to wake him up to make sure he gets a full feeding and not just a snack. This allows him to go a full 3+ hours before he needs to eat again and allows him to sleep longer during the night. I have had some people tell me to just demand feed him whenever he cries. but I didn't want him to grow up thinking that anytime he was upset to turn to food for comfort. I feel that in a way I demand feed him since he demands it when he really is hungry! I just know that not every cry is a means for food. That is why pacifiers are so great. In the words of my dear friend Kari, "Pacifiers are boob savers!"
He has taken a bottle very easily. We have already left him with someone for a couple differents night so Joe and I can get some alone time. This has been hard for me because #1: I miss him a lot #2 I know him better than anyone else and #3 I don't want his schedule to get messed up. I am a little anal when it comes to certain things like Jake but hey, at least I am getting to the point where I am okay leaving him with other people already! I am a first time mom. You know how it was with your first baby. Remember!
Yesterday we went to Shipshiwana to visit our friends Nate and Kari who just had their second baby girl, Jada about 5 weeks ago. It was crazy to see the difference between Jake and Jada. 3 weeks is a big difference. Jake has lost his infant look. Jada was so cute and so tiny! Love and Miss you guys a ton!
Welp, gonna go write some thank you cards that I am three weeks behind on.
God Bless!

The things I love most about being a mom

2009-11-05T09:32:00.000-08:00

I love

being a stay at home mom.

seeing the beautiful person that Joe and I created

watching Jake change on a weekly basis

learning his needs based upon the way he cries

seeing him smile at me when I talk to him

knowing that I know what is best for him better than anyone else

being the only person to satisfy his belly when he is hungry

the bond we make during the day because I get to be home with him all the time

reading books to him before he takes a nap

learning how to pray for him and becoming better with my God-time because of him

watching him sleep

watching Joe love on him

seeing positive results from the way I parent

taking pictures of him

hearing people compliment him on how cute he is

playing with him

knowing that it only gets better and better the older he gets

kissing his little head and checks

rocking him to sleep every now and then

hearing him coo

watching him suck on his tongue because he thinks he is still sucking on his pacifier

There is so much more to love about being a mom, especially a first time mom because it is so new to me and I know it will only get better the longer I am a mom.

I prayed a lot for Jake before he was born. I asked God to guide me in all the choices I would have to make for him and also that Jake would be a good, happy little guy, which he certainly is. I prayed that God would direct Joe and I with our parenting in such a way that we will know how to make good decisions for him that follows the way God would parent our son. I continue to pray for him on a daily basis which is something that I was never good at before I had Jake. I always sucked in my prayer life and now love to spend time thanking God for my family and praying for my husband and son on a daily basis. Having a son has changed not just the way my body looks now but the way I want to live my life. I want to live in such a way so that when Jake grows up with us he lives to love others, love God, and serve the world. I am nowhere near doing that the way I really should, but want to teach my son to look to the needs of others before his own and to be generous with everything he has in life. I want him to be a forgiving person when people hurt him and to find forgiveness when he hurts others. I pray that he will understand that no matter what, mom and dad love him, but that the world doesn't revolve around him. I pray that he will think of Joe and I as loving parents and will forgive us for the mistakes we make against him, because I know we will make many of them.

There are so many things to pray for when you really think of it. I trust God in helping me be the mom that he has made me to be and if I can be obedient to the way he has asked me to parent then I know our family will be blessed in more ways then we could ever imagine.

If you are a mom, what are your favorite moments as a mom and what would you do differently if you could go back to when your kids/kid was a baby?

Kate Gosslin and the Swine Flu

2009-10-28T12:45:00.000-07:00

Kate Gosslin and the Swine flu are all over the place within the media. To be quite honest I am getting quite tired of hearing about what is going to happen to Jon and Kate and their uninteresting show Jon and Kate plus 8. Today Kate was a guest on The Ellen Degeneres show and was asked all the same questions she has been asked on other shows such as my favorite morning show, "Regis and Kelly." Kate has stated many times that her kids are her number one priority and she is a mom first before any other title she may have in her life. Hmmmmm. Not so sure I agree with that. I am glad that she loves her kids. I mean, I can't imagine how hard it must be having two sets of multiples and dealing with all the insanity of having her own TV show. I have watched a large share of Jon and Kate episodes and felt bad for Jon because of the way Kate treats him on national TV. She treats him like he doesn't know what he is doing half the time and yells at the guy in public. Now I know that it probably isn't all Kate's fault for their divorce, but I also think Kate drove Jon crazy enough that he is relieved to move on. I don't agree with their decision to divorce and even if it is mostly Kate's fault I still think Jon is rather selfish. Maybe he has tried his best to work on their marriage and Kate refuses to comply, but regardless it's a mess and is really none of my business nor the media's. I wish Kate would drop the show and give her kids the peace they really need. In my opinion I think if Kate would have put her marriage first this may not have happened. Jon was in her life first and if she really cared for her kids she and Jon would both have tired to save their marriage. The one thing Joe and I vowed we would do when we started a family was to put each other first and our kids second because you can't have a happy, healthy family if mom and dad aren't putting each other first.

Now the Swine Flu is just one of those annoying topics that seems to be on ever single talk show and News channel that exists. I know people are dying of this flu but holy cow you would think we were about to be invaded by aliens or something. They just won't shut up about it. I think we get it! If you don't get your shot we are all gonna DIE! Sometimes you just can't avoid catching a cold no matter how healthy you are or how hard you try to avoid sick people. What about the sick people that don't avoid the healthy people? A huge pet peeve of mine is when sick people don't stay home away from everyone until they are over their illness! Do those people really think they want them around. My husband came home the other day and said that people were coming in sick to work. What?!!! Why do people think this is cool? I'd just love it if someone got my husband sick, came home and got me sick and then I pass it onto my son Jake! This makes no sense to me at all. Stay home if you are feeling even slightly ill people! We don't want your germs and neither do their families. Common sense is all it takes to avoid passing crap around. I certainly don't think I am immune to the swine flu but the fact that I am home 90% of the time and not around that many people I think I will take my chances on pass on the H1N1.

Jake Pictures

2009-10-22T08:45:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of my favorite from the past couple of weeks. He is a happy little guy.

I brought Jake into Sear last Tue and had his one month picture taken. We got some pretty good shots and he even smiled for a few of them. I kind of wish I would have just gotten a little creative with taking some at home shots and printing them out instead of blowing 150 bucks on professional pictures. Oh well, you have to do it at least once in their life.

I am heading to Chicago today for a few more baby showers. I feel like I have had 10 of them already but this will only be number 5. I am very blessed to have so many friends and famly to spoiled him rotten.

A quick update

2009-10-19T12:26:00.000-07:00

By request of my sister in law Denise I am writing a quick update. Quick, because I am trying to get a nap in today and Jake is now just falling asleep. I tried to post a few new pics but my computor is jacked up. Everytime I go to a new page on the internet a page comes up that tell me that the website I am going to is a phishing wesite. Hmmm. not sure how that is happening. I feel like my computor is being hacked. Need to get that checked.
Well, Jake is now 5 weeks old, around 12 lbs and right at 23 in long. He has grown a ton and changed much to quickly. He is a good sleeper when he is in a deep sleep that he doesn't startle himself out of sleep, a good eater besides the messy throw up during and after he eats, and he has been starting to respond to us by smiling a lot. He loves his pacifier, but also tries to find his thumb when I get tired of trying to hold the pacifier in his mouth at night.
I am a few weeks away from putting him in his own room at night. He has been keeping me awake at night when he should be sleeping after I feed him. We were going to wait until he was aleeping through the night to move him into his own room, but last night I fed him at 2:30am and I wasn't alseep again until 6am after I fed him a second time. He had fallin asleep for about 45 min but then suddenly woke up fussy. I let him cry for about ten mins and when I turned the light on realized he had scooted of his sleep positioner and kicked all the blankets off of him. He wasn't too happy about that so I cuddled him in bed for a few minutes to warm him up and then realized that it was time to feed him again. So now I am trying to catch up on the 2 hours of sleep I could have gotten last night.
I love being a mom. Every week gets better and better. I love getting to know him and what he needs when he cries. Sleepless nights are worth it and I treasure every moment I get with him.
Off to take a nap. I will try to post some picture later today. I don't expect it to download but I will give it another shot. You can check facebook for a three pics I posted two days ago.

Infant Acne Solution

2009-10-10T06:17:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have kids or babies and you are dealing with infant acne, or even have acne yourself I have a solution that worked for my 3 week old. He started getting a little acne at 3 weeks old. I hated to see all those little red bumps appear on his cute little face. I know he didn't know any better, but I didn't want him to look that way so I dug through my natural remedies kit and found some Melaleuca Oil. I put a drop of the oil on a warm wet wash cloth and wiped the cloth all over his face. Within a day the acne dried up and the red bumps were gone. He still gets a few red spots here and there so I just wipe off his face once a day with the oil. There you have it. Just like Magic!

The past couple of weeks

2009-10-04T11:44:00.000-07:00

Being a mom is fun, though very tiring and I will be glad when I get to the two month mark when I can start working on getting Jake to sleep through the night. I know some people may think that two months is too early for a baby to sleep through the night but I have had several friends who were very successful at it with all their babies. It may take a little longer for him to get into that kind of routine but I know it is possible.

Hearing your own baby cry is much harder to listen too then I thought it would be, however, the times that I have let him cry himself to sleep has only lasted about 5 minutes and he was out cold. It always seems longer then it actually is. There have been a couple of times we have been in the car and I had no choice but to let him cry it out and that gave me confidence that I can let him cry sometimes. It isn't going to hurt him, it just sounds horrible.

Nursing is going great! He loves Boobs that's for sure. Jake is a spitter, but we have figured out that the more breaks we take to burbs him the less vomit to clean up. I was very unsuccessful at burping him this morning and 15 min after handing him over to Joe so I could catch a few more Zzzz's I guess Jake lost so much of his meal he soaked threw two towels and his outfit and a couple of burb rags. I ended up having to feed him again shortly after that.

We went to church for the first time since Jake was born today. He slept right through the whole service. I was amazed at how much babies are a magnet for attention. Everyone wanted to come and peek at the baby. I was glad that he was asleep in his car seat so I didn't have to hand him off to everyone and their grandma. I love it that people want to hold him, but at the same time, I am a little selfish and like to have him all for myself most of the time. This is also a really bad time of the year to have a baby since everyone is always getting sick. I am not the kind of person that has hand sanitizer all over my house and require hand washing before anyone touches him. Personally I think hand sanitizer is silly, especially the anti-bacterial stuff. You not only kill bad bacteria, but the good bacteria too which is what we all need for a better immune system. A good old bar of Ivory is best!

Joe came home alive from his climb up Mt Rainer. It is a good thing I didn't know how dangerous that trip actually was until he got home. He said it was the hardest thing he has ever done, but glad he got to do it.

Having people bring you meals for a week or two is a lifesavor! I am so thankful for all those people who have brough us dinner this past week and for my mom and mother-in-law for making meals for us! That's one less thing for me to think about.

Mice are gross and they are starting to invade our house. I keep a clean house, so when I see bugs and mice it makes me feel like I have a dirty house. I know that isn't true, but they poop all over the place. I got up to feed Jake two nights agi and we set three traps out on our counter top. We were successful at traping the little stinker. He was still alive when I found him. I threw him out the back door and left him to suffer in the cold. I felt bad and wish I had a heavy boot close by so I could finish him off quickly, but I had Jake alseep in my arms.

It's time to feed the boy AGAIN! I feel like that is all I ever do now a days, but only about 6 more weeks of the every three hours routine and I will hopefully get a little more freedom and some shrinkage in my chest. I thought I would enjoy having a bigger chest. Nope! I won't ever complain about my chest size ever again!

Pics of our handsome little man

2009-09-25T16:32:00.000-07:00

A whirl wind of EMOTIONS!

2009-09-24T16:55:00.000-07:00

It has been eleven days since Jake came into my life and I have experienced a whirlwind of emotions I never thought would take a hit at me. I've been told that this is normal. I am glad to hear since I am typically not an emotional person. At least not this emotional.
I have enjoyed being a mom so far. Each day brings more joy and love into my life as I bond with my little man, and my big man too. Joe and I both knew that we didn't need to have kids to improve our life or make us happier because we were perfectly happy just they way we were. However, now that Jake is in our life he has opened up a new kind of love that Joe and I have never felt for each other and for another person. I understand more of how God loves us because of the way I love Jake. I would do anything for him, just to see him happy, safe, and healthy.
My first week as a mom was full of visitors, a lack of sleep, many tears shed, making hard decisions about what is best for Jake. Should I use a pacifier? How long should I nurse him? Should I rock him to sleep? How long should he stay in our room with us before we move him into his own room? Does he have gas, or is he just fighting sleep? Is he hot, or cold? Should I wake him up to feed him? I know, it seems like I am probably over thinking things a little too much, but when you have never had your own child to nurture and your world revolves around him, you want to make sure you are doing the best possible thing for him.
Nursing is going really well, except for all the spitting up. Yuck! At least it doesn't stink. Our first couple of days were a little tough but he has caught on to it quickly and even though it make for a very mundane kind of life right now I do enjoy the time I get with him that no one but me gets to share. Evening feedings aren't so bad. He consistently eats every 3 hours, sometimes sooner, but I do end up getting a good couple of hours of sleep in between his meals.
We took Jake to the hospital on Saturday morning for his circumcision. Not a fun thing to watch! Have I expressed my distaste for hospitals? I am glad we have doctors and nurses, but when you walk into a doctors office and the nurses and doctors treat you having a baby as an illness, and ask me if I am seeing an OB to make sure things are healing well etc etc, it is just slightly annoying to me. Hospitals are for sick people. Being pregnant is not an illness, and having a baby is a completely normal part of life. Sure, there can be complications that require the expertise of a doctor, but holy cow, I have a perfectly healthy baby who gained an once and a half in the first week, and I have healed rather quickly. Our pediatrician was so worried to do the circumcision because Jake hasn't had his Vit K shot. I told him he would be fine and to go ahead with the procedure. He did great and healed nicely.
Joe is gone for the next several days, hiking up Mt. Rainer with our friend Todd Rielage from Anderson. I am glad he can have this opportunity to live out a dream. Thanks Todd and Bethany for making this trip happen for him. Even though I miss him like crazy and he misses us, I know he will be glad he went. He comes home Monday night. I can't wait!
My mom and sister Heather are here with me for the week/weekend. My dad other sister Kim will be here tonight. It is so nice to have family to keep me company. It can get a little lonely around here when it is just me and Jake so if you ever want to come visit me, give me a call.
Well, time to nurse, again!

My Baby Story

2009-09-19T09:01:00.000-07:00

In my nine months of being pregnant and not having a whole lot to do but clean the house and wait on Jake to arrive I spent a lot of time watching "A Baby Story" on TLC. I often thought about what my story was going to be like and was excited to be able to share my experience with everyone. I am not quite sure how to share this experience with you since it was everything I hoped it would be, but then again, in some ways not what I expected it to be. So I will just start from the beginning and end with the ending.

Saturday September 12th at 6am I woke up feeling my water break. After 20 days of waiting for Jake to arrive I was so relieved, excited, and nervous all at the same time. I actually shook for about an hour wondering when my contractions were going to pick up. I thought for sure I would have him by that evening! I called my midwife and she told me to try to time contractions once I able too and give her a call around 12pm. I felt nothing more than a small cramping sensation so we repeated that process until three. Still Nothing! Midwife called around 8pm saying she was heading to bed and recommended I should too in case my labor starts in the middle of the night we would both be rested.
Sunday morning rolls around and nothing had happened that night. Crap! What is the deal with this kid? Midwife decides to come by and observe around 8am while she sat on the couch and knit socks. Around 9am she asks Joe and I to go into the bedroom and strip down to nothing and just cuddle with skin on skin contact. I guess this is one way of getting labor to start. Well after an hour of cuddle time I was having consistent contractions and labor had officially started. I should also say that when she first arrive she did give me a antibiotic because of my water breaking over 24hours prior.
I labored for several hours in bed and around 1pm was able to get into the doula tub. Once my stomach hit that warm water I felt instant relief. Contractions were still painful but not quite as hard to manage. After several hours in the tub the midwife decided that we needed to speed things along and had me go back to bed to lay on my left side. Left side lying is the best way to get full dilation so that I could start pushing. It was around 5:30pm that she checked me and said I was between 8-9 cm so the next little while would be the hardest part of labor but go quickly. She was right about the intensity I felt like my stomach was being beaten by a bat! No, it was worse than that! I give credit to all the women out there that have more than one kid and delivered all of them without drugs. The whole time I was in those last 2 cm of dilation I was thinking about how nice an epidural would have felt at that time. Oh well, a few hours of pain didn't kill me once all was said and done. By the time I was ready to push we ended up trying three different positions. First side lying. Then a full squat. Then the tub. After an hour of wimpy pushing we decided the best position was full squat. Yes, I was a wimpy pusher. I thought that once I got to be able to push I would feel relief and enjoy that part. Boy was I wrong. I hated pushing which is probably why I didn't push like I was supposed too. After some serious coaching from Joe and the midwife I was able to put my back into it and within a half an hour of correct, hard pushing Jake slid right out for Joe to catch him and hand him to me. Joe said he was more excited about having a boy than he thought he would be. I was happy either way.
Okay, here comes the part of the story you might want to skip if you have a weak stomach.
About an hour after Jake was born I had yet to deliver the placenta. I tried to push hard but was so tired and weak that I felt like I was going to pass out if I kept pushing. The midwife was getting concerned about the time past and gave me a shot of PIT to prevent my uterus from bleeding out. She decided she was going to have to go in and see if it was stuck. That was more painful than anything I have ever experienced, even after delivering a 14.5 in head. She failed her first attempt at getting it out. Her second attempt I got mad and started pushing as hard as I could to get it done and over with. Finally, success! He was born at 10pm and was declared a 40 week baby according the the apgar test. I was so glad that we waited until Jake decided it was time to come out. I know there were many people concerned about the length of time past our due date but as much as I prayed over the situation I trusted God and the midwife to wait.
The best part of the story for me is when we were having hard time delivering the placenta the midwives layed their hands on me and prayed that God would take care of the situation. It was so comforting to have two women their with me who loved the Lord just and much as we do give everything over to God and let him do what he does best.
Even though the experience was one of the hardest things I have ever done I would totally do it over again. My midwife told me that if I had had the baby at the hospital they would have induced me, I probably would have screamed for the epidural since PIT intensifies your contractions. I may have also had an episiotomy because of the size of the babies head and could have very well been given a C-section because the babies head came out a little crooked. His cone head was slightly to the side instead of directly on top. I did end up with a little tear, but no biggy. Tears heal faster than episiotomies anyway.
I am more than happy to answer anyones' questions that I may not have answered in this blog.
So there you have it. My baby Story. I am glad it is over, but when looking back would not change a thing about it.

Pictures of Jake Owen

2009-09-15T16:03:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Jake Owen Wisley, born on Sept 13th at 10pm. I will post a blog on my home birth experience soon!

Update on WHY Baby Wisley isn't here yet!

2009-09-08T14:44:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I know, I know you are all wondering if I have had this baby and if not, why it hasn't happened yet? Well, these things take time and obviously the baby isn't ready to come yet. There are several reasons for this. I shall explain so you can all relax and work on your patience as I have been trying too.I had an appointment with my midwife today. It went very well. We did a non-stress test to make sure the baby is healthy and that the placenta is still working properly. After laying down for 10 minutes. She checks for the baby's heart rate and then bangs a metal pan with a metal spoon right next to my belly. She then checks the heart rate again to see if the baby's heart rate increased any. Well it went from 128 to 140. So that was a postive test that things are going great. We have bascially determined that we have my due date off by 7-10 days so that puts me at only a week or so behind my actual due date now. I am also measuring at 40.5 cm which also means that we are very close to baby time. I am very glad that I have not decided to induce. I am a firm believer in God's timing and really wanted things to happen when he wanted them too vs. my timing. My midwife also said that babies who go to 40 wks plus are better nursers because they are more developed then an early baby. That sounds good to me since I want to nurse. So just a little bit longer, maybe tonight. I appreciate your excitement and your prayers. I will post an update as soon as labor starts! I promise!

When desperate drink castor oil. Yum!

2009-09-06T16:41:00.000-07:00

So here I sit on day 13 past my due date and suffering the symptoms of castor oil. Okay, I wouldn't call it suffering but it certainly isn't comfortable. I slept well until about 3:30am this morning and decided to get up, drink some milk, watch Family Matters and check my email. I finally got an email from a girl who is using my midwife. She was due on the 9th and went into labor on the night of the full moon. The night I thought for sure I would be in labor. Well, she had her baby after 24 hours of labor. Another girl had her baby Saturday as well. She was due on the 1st. Then there is me. Due on the 24th of August and still no baby. How annoying! I think I may have my due date off by a few days but who really knows. So in my desperation for make something happen I have had many people tell me that castor oil can do the trick but be very ugly and painful. I told Joe that if I did it he would have too drink it too. That didn't work.
He went to church this morning and I stayed home to avoid all the gasps from people who were hoping to see me with a baby in my arms and not in my belly. Joe comes home around 12pm and asks if I am going to drink the stuff. I broke down and drank 4 tbs with 2 oz of orange juice. 30 min later drank another 2 tbs and then another 2 tbs 30 mintues after that. It wasn't nasty at all, but what was to come could be very nasty. One of my birthing books said that if it works I would be having contractions within half a day or may start sometime tomorrow.
I took a nap at 330 and woke up around 415. Joe decided to go for a run with Maximus and I decided a walk might help get things rolling a little. I didn't get more than .3 miles away from the house when I suddenly realized I wasn't going to make it home in time to get to the bathroom. Luckily, a thicket of woods were just to my right and I was able to duck away and take care of business without embarassing myself with all the cars driving by. That happened 6 hours after drinking the oil and nothing has happened since then. So I guess we will see if I wake up with contractions tonight or not. I am guessing it's not going to work, but I only say that because I am starting to loose hope in that this baby will ever be ready to come out. I had Joe measure my uterus and it's at 40-41cm which is about 1cm more than last Tuesday. I am praying something happens before Tuesday because that is when I see the midwife again. Our next step will be to sweep the membranes. I really don't want to go that route,but if I must then I must. I am still feeling great. The baby is still moving around a ton and I am sleeping better at night. Now if only I could have some sort of sign! Joe is leaving for a trip with a friend to climb Mount Rainer on the 23rd, so as each day passes he gets a little less excited about having to leave us for five days. I am glad that he gets the chance to go and it was me and our friend who arranged the trip as a surprise, so don't think that it was all Joe's idea to leave his wife and new baby. I am totally okay with him being able to experience this adventure. I'm guessing by the end of this week we will have a baby so check in and I will post when something happens. You can also check my facebook. Be praying for me! I am loosing my mind and my patience!

It's just a Different Viewpoint

2009-09-02T06:50:00.000-07:00

I feel like I need to clairify a few things I have posted in previous blogs about my different way of thinking in regards to my choices to have a home birth, to use a midwife and not a doctor, avoid a medicated birth, and not be induced as well as several other topics I don't need to mention to protect myself. I know that I am the minority in these decisions. 95% of the people I know don't do things the way that I do and I am okay with that. When it comes to my difference of opinion on any subject matter I do not want people to think that just because I have choosen a different path that my way is better than your way, that I am right and you are wrong, that because I have a difference of opinion that your opinion doesn't matter. Does that make sense? When I feel strongly about something I want people to know why I believe the way I do, but I also know that in the past I have sent a false message that if you don't do things the way I do, I think you are stupid and irresponsible. That couldn't be further from the truth, especially since a majority of the people I know may not agree with my way of thinking.
So if you have read my blog in the past, and been offended by anything I said, or felt attacked, demeanored, or that I was trying to tell you the way you do things is wrong, I apologize to you for causing you to feel that way. My intentions are not to hurt people. I simply want to explain why I do the things that I do because I am usually in the minority in the choices I make. I also want to raise awareness on the many different options that are out there for having babies that can work better for you. I don't judge those that have hospital births, have epidurals or inductions etc. Whatever works for you isn't going to change the way I think of anyone. It just isn't the way I want to do things. It is as simple as that. Don't take it personally please!

No Baby Yet!

2009-08-21T17:22:00.000-07:00

I am getting so tired of waiting for this baby to come out and join the family. Every night is a whirl of mixed feelings. Is is going to be tonight? Will I get up to pee and find that my water breaks? Surely something will happen tonight? Oh well, I guess that means I am not ready yet, or that the baby needs a few more days to develop. I am really tired of my routine right now. I think I am ready for a little stress in my life! I say that now, and two weeks from now I will be dying for relaxation instead. You never can win, can you!
Poor Joe has to go into work everyday and is bombarded by the same questions he gets asked everyday. Any changes yet? Has she felt any contractions? Etc Etc Etc! I feel for him. I just don't answer my phone unless I know it is someone that won't ask me those annoying questions. Even though I am only three days away from the due date I still feel like it will be ages before it happens. I having felt a single contraction, or been super tired, or super energetic. I feel like I have been in my nesting stage for the past 4 weeks now.
I feel like when I do go into labor I will probably cry out, "NO, not today! I am not ready!" :)
Summer Camp is over til next year. Joe is glad to have some extra freedom and more rest at night. We already miss the summer staff and aren't prepared for a long boring winter. Actually, it probably won't be boring with our baby around to hang out with.
As of right now Joe is out on a run with Maximus training for his hike up Mount Rainer. It started pouring about ten minutes ago. He He He! They are going to be soaked! Joe leaves on the 23rd of September with our friend Todd Rielage from Anderson. They will be gone for 5 days. My mom will hopefully come stay with me for the time he is gone.
That is pretty much all I have for now. I hope to have more interesting things to blog about after the little one is here.

Thoughts on Being a MOM!

2009-08-09T13:45:00.000-07:00

The picture to the left is of some wonderful women from Beford IN. Most of them are sister-in-laws, mother-in-laws, and neices and one nephew. The others are from Joe's home church, Popcorn Christian Church. We drove down to Bedford a baby shower given by these wonderful ladies. We had a great time eating and opening gifts. I received a lot of great items that I can't wait to use.

I've been getting restless during the past week. I often walk into the baby's room and pace around wondering if I am missing anything, or if there is something I can do to get my mind off what labor is going to be like. It has been hard not having much to do since I am prepared for this home birth. I got my birthing kit in the mail at the beginning of last week and bought the list of things my midwife wanted to me have at the house.

I often spend most of my time thinking about being relaxed and releasing any stress that I may be feeling in the present. My goal during the past month has been to focus on all the positives, to feel strong and confident, so that when the time comes I know the labor I experience is going to be normal and the pain is only temporary.
During my last appointment with my midwife she asked if there was anything I feared. My only fears are the point at which my contractions are so close together and the pain so intense that I will not be able to focus on using the relaxation techniques I have been practicing over the past two months. I have no fears of pushing what so ever. She said she is very curious to know how I will handle labor versus the way I handled hiking up and down mountains for 6 months. She seems to think that it won't be much different. Hiking up mountains all day long was no easy task but I don't think it wil compare to having a baby. So far hiking for 6 months is the hardest thing I have ever done but I'm guessing that will change once I experience delivering a baby.
As far as my feelings about being a mom I am indifferent. Two weeks ago I would have told you that I was not excited about being a mom at all. The last 7 years with Joe have been amazing and it is hard for me to picture our life being interupted with a new member of the family. Joe and I love the time that we get to spend together. We have spent a lot of time talking about how we will juggle time together and time with our kids. We understand the importance of nurturing our childrens' needs but also see the importance of nurturing our marriage. We both feel that in order for us to have a better than stable, crazy in love and meeting each others needs marriage, it will require us to make "Joe and Mel Time" a big priority. I want my kids to grow up seeing Joe and I madly in love with each other to be a good model of a healthy marriage. I don't want my kids to feel our stress because we put our marriage on the back burner. When kids see that their parents are in love with each other that gives them a confident and secure feeling in themselves and the life that they live in.
Being a mom is such a big idea for me to wrap my arms around and understand at this point. However, I know God gave me all of the abilities I will need to be the mom that he intended me to be.

Baby's Room Preview and more Belly Pics

2009-07-17T12:38:00.000-07:00

Well, there it is, your sneak peak. I spray painted this table back to a new white finish and bought the baskets at Walmart.

I love how I don't look pregnant from behind!

Oh my belly! Can't wait to do this same pose again except without the belly!

Is it really the middle of July already? Summer is passing much too quickly, although I am partly glad for that since it means I am only 5 weeks away from my due date! Who knows? I could go much sooner than 5 weeks which would be awesome. I am so ready to be a mom and not have this basketball belly anymore (please keep your comments to yourself about why I shouldn't wish away my belly). The one thing that has probably annoyed me the most about being pregnant are the comments I get after I share my feelings about pregnancy. I have had it very easy, but that still doesn't mean I need to love being pregnant like some people think I should. My least favorite comment has been, "Oh just you wait until the baby comes and you have sleepless nights, then you will wish you were still pregnant." Really any comment that starts with the phrase, "just you wait" irritates me to no end! Maybe, just maybe I will have a baby that sleeps well through the night, or I just happen to not stress out about stuff like that and am able to get enough rest to keep me sane. Alright, dismounting my horse and moving on.

The babies room is started and will not be finished until after the baby is born. I registered for curtains, bedding and a few other things for the room and won't be having any other showers except for one until after the baby comes. So for now you just get a little sneak peak of my black and white theme.

I am going on my 36th (?) week and still feel great. The ol' bladder likes to send me to the bathroom about once every hour and I toss and turn during the night to stay comfortable. My lower back hurts if I am on my feet for too long but I am still very mobile and stay as active as I possibley can be at this stage in the game.

My midwife is making a house visit this coming Monday to become familiar with our home so she is ready for action when the time comes. She is the best thing that has happened to me during this pregnancy! I am so glad that God sent her my way!

Joe is still working incredibly hard at the camp. We only have three full weeks of camp left and then he will get some down time before lil Wisley shows up.

I made a random trip down to North Carolina to visit with my sister Heather. My youngest sister Kim picked me up on her way down from Chicago and we had three wonderful days of sister time; our last before the lil terd makes its' appearance into our lives. We had a great time a laying out at her pool, going to watch "My Sister's Keeper," which instead of crying our eyes out, we actually laughed so hard Heather and I peed our pants. I know it sounds so insensitive because the girl dies at the end but I ended up thinking of something so funny I busted out laughing and got the other two on the laughter train with me. All three of us had our shirts over our mouths pretending we were crying so the other movie watchers wouldn't be disgusted with our insensitive response to a very sad movie. Anyway, my sisters and I are one of a kind and a lot of people don't get our sense of humor.

I think that covers it all for now. Hope you all are having a great summer!

Pimped Out Ride and a Random Facebook Message

2009-06-30T15:56:00.000-07:00

Well, there it is! My birthday present for the next 5 years! I never thought I would love it as much as I do. It is a Nissan Quest SL and thanks to our other vehicle for blowing it's engine we are looking forward to hulling our family around in it.

So my random FB message episode this week came from someone that I have never met and who is not one of my FB friends. This person is from Palastine and in her very poorly written English grammar she tells me that "anybody can be pregnant, babies are cute, pregnant women are not, they are not pretty and are ugly." My first thought to this message was, 'wow, apparently someone thinks I am ugly.' I wrote her back and asked her what she meant by her statement. She replied, "It just seems like you think you are the only pregnant women on earth, and your aren't." My reply, 'okay, but what are you basing that opinion on since you don't know me and have no access to my FB profile?' Her reply, "please don't send me anymore messages. I have three kids and a cat to care for and don't have time to read them. If you send me anymore message I won't read them and besides, why would I since you are not my facebook friend." Well there you have it. Odd! Apparently she is an Aunt of someone I know and she had the time to write me to tell me how she felt but doesn't have the time to answer my questions about her accusations against me. After her rude comments she actually requested my friendship on FB. Ha! So to all you pregnant women out there. You are not ugly! You are very pretty and your babies will be very cute!

22 lbs gained and 8 weeks to go to Show Time!

2009-06-22T19:02:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast time flies when you are pregnant! I am very ready to have this baby and 8 weeks feels so far away, but really, it's not. Before I know it I will have the most adorable Joe or Mel JR. in my arms. I am starting my 32nd week this week and still feeling great. I don't feel like I have gained 22 lbs, but when I look in the mirror, that is a whole different story. I feel huge when really, I'm not. I'm just not used to having a belly in the way of everything I do.
I had my 2nd appointment with our midwife today. We spent a lot of time just talking about our families, our life, our desires, and of course camp stuff. She is very tuned in to getting to know us and I have felt like we are building more than just a professional relationship. Our next appointment will be at our home so she can become familiar with our environment. The last thing she usually does before we leave is check my blood pressure, listen for the baby's heart rate, and feel for the baby's position which is head down, right where it should be!
Other updates in the Wisley family. Joe and I have a new niece from Tailand! Her name is Noni and she is 8 years old and speaks very little english. Joe's step-sister and brother-in-law adopted her two weeks ago and she was so excited to go home with them. We are very excited about having her join the family and she is adjusting very well to the American culture.
I went to visit the Wisley clan last week and on my way there our one and only vehicle died on me about 20 miles south of the camp. Luckily, I was close to home. Joe was out of town, of course. These things always happen to me when Joe is gone. I called our maintainence guy from the camp and he came to pick up the car and take it into the mechanics. For now all we know is that the engine is probably blown and we will more than likely be car shopping this weekend for a family car. Not excited about having to have a car payment because we haven't had one for several years, but we trust God and know we won't have to worry about the finances because God knows our needs and if he wants us to get another car then he will provide us the funds to get one. So there you have it. We continue with a very busy summer at the camp. Joe returned home from his Wilderness trip this past weekend and jumped right into another week of camp that he is co-dean of called Kingdom Week. I don't know how he does it, but he seems to work well with a tight and busy schedule. I always look forward to his days off, but am very glad that I can take a short walk across the dam and see him whenever I want too! I am very blessed!

Who's Problem is it?

2009-06-14T12:10:00.000-07:00

I am way past due on a new blog so sorry for the two week absence. So today's blog will be about something that really hit home for me while at church today. I am really not a church type person because I think there are better, more effective ways of doing church but haven't figured that all out yet, however, that is an entirely different topic. My decision to go to church today was well worth my time. Today's topic was about generosity and sharing (2 Corinthians 8:8-15). I think the whole chapter is an excellent chapter so if you want to read it go for it. What I loved about this lesson today was the challenge it gave me to find even more ways to share and give more generously to others. Almost two years ago before we left for our hike I would have defined myself as a slightly selfish person that held onto my possessions tightly. I hated tithing and wasn't good at letting people borrow our things. That soon changed once I gave up all my possessions for 6 months to hike the A.T. I was amazed at how little I could live on, the things I took for grated, and how much generosity we received from complete strangers the entire distance of the trail. It was truly overwhelming to accept the fact that people wanted to help us and let us stay in their home, cook us meals, wash our stinky clothes, buy us a meal or our groceries, and drive us where ever we needed to get too. It was so incredible to gain a new respect for strangers and see that their are people out there that want to serve others. This gave me a big desire to do the same when I returned home from the hike. Joe and I started tithing consistently, which we were before but not always on a regular basis. Our tithe doesn't always go to the same place, or person. We have found so much pleasure in finding people or non-for profits, like the camp, who are in need financially or even something as simple as sharing our things with others. The more often we give the more we want to give and the blessings in return have opened our eyes to God's hand at work. Joe and I have so much less than we have ever had in our marriage but are so much happier now. God has blessed us with so many friends who have been very gracious in passing on items for the baby or things that we can borrow for a few months, like maternity clothes, which are so expensive. Thanks to all of our friends who have thought of us in our time of need. Having a baby is not inexpensive! Friends, family, baby showers, and garage sales, help a ton!
So to conclude, let me explain the title of my blog. "Who's problem is it?" That was the question that was answered in church today. Answer: It's my problem; our problem, to take care of the needy, the starving, the homeless, and the sick. The more we give, the happier we are and more blessed we will be in our efforts towards generosity.
With that said, if their is ever something you need, not hesitate to ask us. We are always more than happy to share what we have!

2 Tim 6:17-19
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

Baby Belly Update 29 weeks

2009-06-01T06:25:00.000-07:00

Well, there it is! I can't believe that I have less than three months until this little person comes into our life. I have been day dreaming about what that moment will be like for us. My dreams at night have gotten a little crazy too! My favorite thing to imagine or picture is that moment when I see Joe's eyes light up and get to bond with the baby in his own way. I feel that I have had a special bond with it inside of me, feeling it move around all day. It will be so wonderful to see Joe develop a special love for it as well. I am really excited to make my mom and dad grandparents for the first time, and my sisters first time aunts. That is about all for now. Short and Sweet!

My Top Ten Moments In LIfe

2009-05-29T05:42:00.000-07:00

#1 - Of Course Marrying my perfect match Joe Wisley!

#2 - Our Wedding night and the honeymoon! (brownchickenbrowncow)

#3 - Finishing our 2200 mile journey on the A.T.

#4 - Finding out I was Pregnant for the first time!

#5 - Moving to Rainbow Christian Camp

#6 - Adopting my Dog Maximus

#7 - The Rock Week (Summer 2006)

#8 - Playing with my sister's and cousin's when we were little girls!

#9 - Being baptised by Joe

#10 - Feeling baby Wisley move inside me for the first time!

Think of the things that give you joy today! God Bless!

Just an Update

2009-05-26T13:59:00.000-07:00

Life certainly hasn't slowed down for us lately. I have spent the last couple of weeks working out in the yard pulling weeds and redesigning our landscaping for a little more curb appeal than the way it was before. I love working out in the yard! Guess I get that from my dad, but I love working in the house too, cooking, cleaning and organizing which I for sure inherited from my mom. Summertime is my favorite time of the year, even though it means I have to suffer through some major sinus issues from all the pollen. I would trade any other season, especially winter, to have summer around for a few more months.
The baby's room is no where near being started. I decided not to repaint the room and stick with the neutral taupe that was in the room when we moved in. I hate painting and figured the baby doesn't care about the color so why bother. I do have my crib, rocker and dresser in the room ready to be placed and a few other items for the baby that I have found at resale shops, garage sales and craigslist. I am still looking for a white or natural, unstained wood colored changing table although I may change my mind on getting one since it will only be one more piece of furniture that I will have to store away when I don't need it anymore.
I am going on my 27th week of being pregnant and starting to feel more and more tired the closer it gets to August. It is so hard to listen to my body and take naps when I have so many other things I would rather be doing. Don't get me wrong, I love naps, especially on rainy days or during the cold winter months. I spent most of today relaxing, reading, doing some light yoga, napping and walking Maximus around the camp so I had my fair share of rest today.
Speaking of camp! The busy season is here for Joe and all the other staff. Our college summer staff arrived for training a little over a week ago, which means Joe's day starts at 8am and usually isn't over until 9-10pm, but only for these first two weeks. They have been working hard to get the camp back into summer shape, CPR and lifeguard training, as well as high ropes training. Our high school summer staff will arrive early next week and then the fun begins with week #1. I am so excited to see all the kids arrive and watch the camp come alive again.
My mom and dad came down for a visit from Chicago this weekend. It was so nice to have family around and a little help with some house work and advice about yard work from my green thumb of a father. They brought my cute little cradle with them that I found in Chicago as well as a few other cute baby items which included a Chicago Cubs onesie, bib and booties! I will not force my kids to be Chicago fans but as long as they don't know any better I will dress them in Cubs/Bears outfits when Joe isn't looking. :)
Well I think that is about all for now. I will post some pictures of my growing belly soon. Hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day!

So Why a Home Birth?

2009-05-17T16:54:00.000-07:00

I have been reading frantically and praying a lot over the last couple of weeks about where I wanted to have our first child. There has always been something about Doctors and hospitals that had made me uncomfortable. It all started about 3 months ago when I began to question the drug industry in why drugs are almost always the answer to people's illness and pain. I asked myself if drugs were truly the way to a ill-free/pain-free life? I came to a conclusion that drugs are not the way for me to deal with illness and pain and I wanted to live in such a way to avoid the toxic side affects of drugs and other chemicals. An example from my own life stems from the effects I saw in taking birth control pills for almost 5 years and my story is nothing compared to others I have heard. I began to notice my emotions taking a turn towards the worst. I became numb emotionally and rarely did I ever feel happy or sad. I was an emotional zombie per se. I also noticed that my desire for sexual intimacy with my husband had faded away to nothing. This was frustrating for both he and I. I spoke with my OB/GYN about the issue and the only thing she could recommend was trying a different pill or using hormones as a way to deal with the problem. I decided against her recommendations and went off all birth control and within a month felt like a completely different person. One other thing that bothered me about the situation was I had also asked my doctor about Natural Family Planning as a way to prevent a pregnancy. The only answers she gave me were discouraging and still made me feel that some form of drug was my only option for preventing conception. So, I made the choice to take a risk and stay off the pill. After a year of being off the pill I was able to control when I wanted to conceive and became pregnant without any troubles. I have heard and read of so many couples having a hard time conceiving and I feel many of those cases result from the side effects of the chemical hormones in birth control that mess with a women's body. That brought me to wonder about medicated birth experiences. Why do women get epidurals? Is it really safe for the baby? Does it slow down labor and lead to more drugs and/or C-sections?
This raised my curiosity and through lots research and asking lots of questions of mothers who have had both hospital and home births, the info I given was eye opening! Therefore I am choosing to have the baby at home with the assistance of a midwife from Wabash IN. If I had the space to write all I have learned about hospital vs. a home birth or unmedicated vs. medicated births, I would explain everything I have learned. I encourage you to look into it yourself. I am so glad that I did because it has empowered me to feel in control and confident in my own body and I no longer fear the upcoming event of bringing this baby into the world. I have always feared being in labor and not knowing what to expect when the time came. Now that I know what I want and what to expect I feel confident and prepared. A few books I found to be very helpful are: "Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way" by Susan McCutcheon, "Gentle Birth Choices" by Babara Harper, and I am now starting to read "Husband Coached Childbirth" by Bradley. I also highly recommend that you find the dvd called "The Business of Being Born." It is a documentary by Ricki Lake who had a hospital birth for her first and a home birth for her second. Talking with my midwife last week and looking at her stats made Joe and me even more at peace with the decision. Our first appointment with her was 2 hours long and it was free! She had an 18 page Informed Consent Form that we went over together and she shared her stats and philosophy of care. I found out that each of my prenatal visits with her will last an hour because she really wants to get to know us and make us feel comfortable with her. The average time a male OB spends with his patients each visit is 7 minutes. For a Female OB it is about 10 minutes! Isn't that crazy? Midwives attend over 70% of births in Europe and Japan, but less than 8% in the U.S. The U.S. also has one of the highest maternal mortality rates than anywhere else in the world and 95% of women are giving birth in hospitals in the U.S. Hmmmmmm? In 1900, 95% of births in the U.S took place at home. By 1955, less than 1% were at home. It remains that same number today. I could go on...
After all the reading and documentaries I have watched I also learned that all of the medical technology (fetal monitors, meds, forceps, vacuums, surgery, episiotomy, etc.)that doctors use during a women's labor are most of the time unnecessary. Doctors simply don't let a women's body progress on it's own time before they decide that they need to intervene to get the baby out on their own time versus the mother and baby's time. Most doctors have never attended a natural delivery before they started their practice and most have never attended a home birth that was done completely natural without all the drugs and technology. 1 out of 4 women have c-sections and 80% have had some form of drug during labor today. Those numbers are just way too high! My philosophy now is that women were created by God to give birth in their own time and can be in complete control of their labor. I understand that having a midwife, or a home birth is not for everyone but I still encourage you to look into all of your options before you decide on where you will have you first, second or third baby. Since I haven't had the baby yet I have nothing more to go by than what I have read or heard from others. When the time comes I will be more than happy to share every detail of my experience with you. Have a wonderful day and God Bless!

Price Comparison for Cloth vs. Disposable Diapers

2009-05-09T08:53:00.001-07:00

If you were curious about the money you can save by using cloth diapers here is a little incentive for you to start using them. This info comes from toastybaby.com. I am registering for my diapers from nickisdiapers.com because I feel they have more a of selection to choose from. I am doing prefolds with diaper covers and a gracious friend of mine is passing on around ten all-in-ones for me too. Cloth diapers are not like they used to be so check em out.

Amercians spend about 7 billion dollars on disposable diapers every year. The cost of cloth diapering can easily be less than 1/2 the cost of buying disposables.Cost Savings: Cloth Diapers vs. Disposable Diapers

Disposable Diapers = $2,214.00
1st 3 months ($270.00)
30 days/month x 10 diapers/day x 3 months = 900 diapers a month
900 diapers x $.30 = $270.00
4 - 30 months ($1,944.00)
30 days/month x 8 diapers/day x 27 months = 6,480 diapers
6,480 diapers x $.30 = $1,944.00

Chinese Prefold & Bummis Super Whisper Wraps = $734.00
Chinese Prefolds ($132.00)
36 infant prefolds @ $2.00 each = $72.00
24 regular prefolds @ $2.50 each = $60.00
Bummis Super Whisper Wraps ($242.00)
8 small covers (white) @$11.00 each = $88.00
8 medium covers (white) @$11.00 each = $88.00
6 large covers (white) @$11.00 each = $66.00
Laundering Cost
24 months x $15.00/month = $360.00

Bumkins All-In-One = $1,807.95
Small (White)
36 @ $15.99 = $575.64
Medium (White)
30 @ $15.99 = $479.90
Large (White)
24 @ $15.99 = $383.76
Doublers for overnight
3 @ $2.95 = $8.85
Laundering Cost
24 months x $15.00/month = $360.00 Assumptions:

Average cost of disposable diaper = $.30. Based on price review at local area Kroger.
Laundering Cost is estimated at $15.00/month. This may vary based on the age and style of your washing machine.
Babies who are cloth diapered are potty trained on average in 24 months versus 30 months for those who wear disposable diapers.
Wipes & other accessories are not factored into this comparison. There would be further costs for both disposable and cloth and could vary greatly depending on the accessories used.