What's Goin' On, and Some Lenten Resolutions

Hi folks!  Sorry it's been a while.  My number one Lenten resolution, to reduce my internet time, has greatly effected my blogging time.  Additionally, Evelyn is turning out to be a routine lover.  How on earth did a routine lover come out of me?  

She wakes up approximately 5 minutes before the alarm goes off at 7:30.  She requires two naps a day, at 10:30 and 2.  She goes to bed at 8:00.  If this doesn't happen Fussy Francine, as my sister-in-law used to call Little Zoey in her fussy moments, comes to live with us.  I'll tell you what, keeping Evelyn's routine and my complete lack of routine in sync is quite a struggle.  I never used to have to turn down appointments or playdates, and now I do.  It's also kind of nice.  At 8:00, Maic and I get to have our own time.  Lately, we've been spending most of our free time watching Veronica Mars and eating cheese and crackers.  Oh shoot, we're my parents! 

For example, I need to think twice about signing my babe up for a fashion show
that starts at 11:00 when naptime is at 10:30. 

If we get all the naptimes straight, she's the happiest baby on the block! 

I made it over some big hills the past couple weeks as well.  I finished my ordination paper and my thesis proposal finally got accepted.  I'm feeling great about both.  Two weeks from today, I have my ordination interview back in Ohio, after which I should be able to start searching for a call, providing that my profile is put together by that time.  My thesis is living like a fiery flame of passion in my mind right now.  I discovered an artist, Artemisia Gentilesche, who painted some interesting renditions of Judith, but most importantly painted Biblical heroines from a female point of view, something that we don't see much of.  Her commentators speak to a lot of my observations about Judith and art, so it is helping me to find the right sources to integrate into my thesis. 

One of Artimisia Gentilesche's Judith paintings.
"Shoot girl, why are you writing about this horrible woman
and why are you posting such violent images on your blog?"
 I know, I know, just wait.  It will all make sense in the end.  

The journey to May 19th, my graduation day, still seems quite uphill.  But I'm having a great time, making sure not to miss the awesome things that come with being a Mama in St. Louis.  

We're super excited for our friends, Emma and Rob, who are having a baby in March!
Stacy, our friend Jacq, and I threw a baby shower for them last weekend. 

Had a great playdate this week with our good friend Collin,
who's four days younger than Evelyn...

And Ellie, who's eight days younger than Evelyn! 

Oh, by the way, wanna know my Lenten resolutions?  

1.  I am spending less time on the internet.  You know, I really am addicted.  I hate it.  I don't know what "less" will look like at this point, but it's a process.  Definitely not going on as long as Evelyn is awake.  

2.  We are not going out to eat during Lent, with the probable exception of when we are home in Ohio.  

3. Reading the UCC daily devotionals and these really great expansive language prayers at www.wordsmatter.org each day. 

I'll leave you with a photo of Evelyn in her favorite hat.
It's softer than the stupid ones her mama knits for her. 

Thanks for reading, everybody.  Sharing this journey is so much fun for me.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!  If you have a moment, I'd love it if you would "follow" my blog by clicking "follow" in the upper left hand corner.  

4 Months; 1 Year

Okay, friends, now on to something that you will probably find more interesting.

Evelyn was four months old yesterday.  Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of when we found out we were having a baby.

(Disclaimer: The auto-focus on our camera is broken because I left it on the arm of the chair and it fell off.  You'd think I'd learn that things shouldn't go on the arm of this chair, after the amount of times I've put my waterbottle on it and spilled it all over the ground, but I haven't learned yet.  As a result, the photos are not the best quality.  I'm learning to use manual focus but it's hard.  I think our warranty will cover the repair, but not thinking about it until after Christmas.)

Four months is around the right time to start using the exersaucer, so we did!  It takes up like 90% of our apartment, but I love it and she loves it.  I love it because I can put her in it, set it outside the bathroom door, and take a shower.  It's great.

We had a playdate today with a friend from my August birth group and her baby Collin.  Collin is 3 days younger than Evelyn.  

Collin with his hand on her leg, getting fresh.  

Mama, look a friend!  

We had a great time!  I love Mama Friends! 

Then, this evening Maic took us on a Christmas date!  We each had a budget to spend on Christmas gifts for Evelyn.  I spent mine on a bunch of toys, etc. (I'll show you in a post-Christmas blog post)  He decided to spend his to take us on a horse carriage ride through a Christmas-light filled park.  It was so much fun.  He is such a sweetheart.

We went out to dinner first at a Mongolian Grill.  

Evelyn had these soft mittens on,
and she couldn't stop rubbing them on her face.  

Can you see the horse?

Evelyn and Daddy in the
One Horse Open Sleigh

Now that that's out of the way, I want to tell you a little bit about what the past year has been like for us.  A year ago today, we found out we were going to have a baby.

December 22, 2010

Maic and I were going to be leaving to go home for Christmas after the 11:00 Christmas Eve service at Salem UMC (where I was working at the time.)  It would be a 10 hour drive, so we would arrive on Christmas morning.  I thought it would be cute if I made us Christmas pajama pants to wear home.  On the evening of December 22, I finished the pants for myself and went to try them on.  WAYYYY too small.  So I started yelling about how I can't do anything right, and threw the pants and the scissors across the room.  Maic came out of the kitchen and told me that it wasn't a big deal.  I began to list all of the reasons it was a big deal, ie: I can't do anything right, ever; I just want to be good at sewing and I made a stupid mistake; I don't know anyone else who has ever done something this stupid.

Maic asked me if I was about to get my period, which just made me even more mad.  Why would he think I was being hormonal???  That's just ridiculous.  I yelled, "NO I'M JUST UPSET OKAY???"  And sat down to work on the pants some more.  But his question got me thinking.  Was I about to get my period?  No, that was last week.  No, actually, it wasn't.

I decided to take a test, and there it was.  A faint little pink line.  The best Christmas present I've ever received.

New Year's Eve last year, not sipping any champagne!

Can you believe how much can happen in a year?  For a year, I have been creating life out of my own body.   All 12 pounds, 5 ounces of Evelyn (found that out yesterday) have been created out of what I have given her.  I am blessed that I have been able to exclusively breastfeed, and I plan to continue to do so for a while.    It feels so right that I have given so much of myself so that she could be.  I thought I might be sad that my body has changed so much or that my schedule and my diet is so dependent on her, but I'm not.  I am just proud.

Now, don't hear me wrong, I have a lot of friends who have had trouble breastfeeding or have needed supplements, etc. to sustain their lives and not an inch of me thinks that I am better than them.  They have each made the right decisions for the health of their babies, and that's what being a good mother is about.  I do hope, however, that they will celebrate with me that I have been so blessed.

In this year, everything about my body has changed.  My hips are wider, my ribs are broader, my skin and hair are different, and I won't touch the more personal changes.  Parts of me wish I could have myself back-- a full night without having to wake up to nurse (I thought I might get one when I was in Columubus.  Boy was I wrong. Woke up in pain each night and needed to pump), clothes that don't have to be accessible in the case of a hungry baby, pants that fit me from one day to the next.  But then part of me knows that I don't have that anymore, and instead I have 12 lbs, 5 oz. of the most beautiful human I've ever seen.

About 35 weeks pregnant

And, most importantly, when I see how beautiful she is and how much I love her, and remember that she and I are created by the very same God, I realize that if she is beautiful, I am beautiful too.

What's on my table?

It's finals week.  Half of me is anxious to get all these finals out of the way so I can just say, "I'M FINISHED with the semester!  and I only have ONE SEMESTER LEFT!!"  But the other half of me can't stop thinking about Christmas-- visiting family and introducing Evelyn to a few people for the first time, eating big delicious meals, watching my little girl and her big cousin Zoey play together again, meeting baby Max, a good friend's new baby who was born last weekend, etc.

So I'm stuck here at this cluttered table, with Christmas pulling on one arm and finals pulling on the other.  Oh, and Evelyn, pulling on my hair.  She does that now.

On it is:
1. UCC Book of Worship and Methodist Liturgy book, for working on my Liturgy final-- a full worship order for a wedding, a funeral, and a Sunday morning service.
2. A stack of Christmas cards and photos, which I will never send out again.  What a PAIN!!!  Okay,  next Christmas I might change my mind, but for now I'm motivated by the idea that this will never happen again.
3. A cup of tea.  Earl Grey in a giraffe mug.
4. A wobbly jingly toy.  We call him "Sassy Clown" because he has the word Sassy on his butt.  Realized later that it's a brand name.
5. The laptop hanging out at-- what?-- Facebook.  Of course.  So addicting.  It doesn't help that my August 2011 birth group moved to Facebook a couple months ago.  Now I am constantly on there seeking advice, venting, and sharing photos.  I seriously don't know what I would do without their support.  However, I'd probably have A LOT more of my finals done and my ordination paper would be more or less finished.  And my dishes would be clean.
6. Some yarn and my miscellaneous craft box.  I already mentioned that I've given up on handmade Christmas in its entirety, but there are still a few handmade things in the mix.  Two more to finish up.
7.  The rest of the stuff is always there.

Evelyn is sleeping now.  She is getting so big.  She laughs now and really loves to hear herself talk.  The days of letting her lie on her playmat while I work are over, however.  She is easily bored and wants to be read to, talked to, or carried around.  I try to read my articles for school or the papers I'm writing aloud to her as a compromise, but the second I turn to the computer, she squeals.  Smart girl.

Well, something's a bit off about blogging while complaining about my finals not being finished.  I'm going to go take advantage of the rest of this nap.