Baby Love

Cut the crab out

"It is better to live alone in the desert than with a crabby, complaining wife." Proverbs 22:19

Are you longing for an amazing marriage? The kind that others envy? Then ladies, lets's cut the crab out.

I've always thought that because I am a woman, I could get away with just a bit more sass. My words could be just a bit more cutting. I have no idea why I bought into this worldly lie. We've all seen the movie with the token wife whose husband is "whipped". We all nervously laugh and think to ourselves "I'm so glad I'm not THAT wife". But deep down inside, we all have a little of her in us. She wants to get out. Like, when your husband does something that "he should have known better!"

And there are seasons, the Lord knows there are seasons. I call my current season the "ponytail" season. I am dog tired. I've been up all night. But that doesn’t justify anything. My tiny humans get so much of my sparkle sometimes that by the time hubby gets home it's all used up. How wrong is that?

It's fed to us constantly: neglect your home, neglect your husband...these babies grow up too fast to do anything other than be in their presence! And at the end of the day we have messy homes, supposedly happy children and not so wonderful marriages.

Now, I'm not saying a clean house is the key to a happy marriage (though, a few men might argue!). My dear husband comes home to a messy house more often than a clean one. He knows it's because I'm doing this mom thing and he gives me so much grace. What I am saying is we've got it backwards. Who are we serving first? So often it is my children, God, my husband...with periodic switching of the last two. That, my dear friends, is so wrong. My seconds are so often served to those who deserve my first fruits.

We are given to our husband's to be their helpers. It’s so easy for me to lose sight of this in the name of “being the best mommy.” Too often my words singe and my actions are lackluster. But my little lambs will benefit far beyond what I could imagine when they see me putting my Lord and my husband (their daddy!) first. And even better when I get them involved! My little one finds such glee in doing anything for his father (let's make this for daddy! time to clean up for daddy!). We don't have to sacrifice one for the other. In doing so, I show my children a healthy picture of marriage. I've heard it said "my mom taught me how to be a great mother...but not a great wife".

Solomon had it right when he said, "Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain" (Psalm 127:1). We need to take back our households and give them to the Lord, the master architect. We must go to Him with the weakness of our flesh, for He is "able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy" (Jude 1:24). We must ask daily for wisdom and patience, as He "gives generously without finding fault" (James 1:5). Will you join with me in pledging to love our husbands with our words and to speak "what is helpful for building (our husbands) up according to their needs" (Ephesians 4:29)? Will you join with me in breathing life back into our marriages and our homes? Our children will thank us, and I'm pretty sure our husbands will, too.


"I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls..." (2 Chorinthians 12:15)

Little Helper

Some of my fondest memories growing up are of my mom and my siblings in the kitchen. One thing I love about my mom, and something that made her a great mom, was her lack of fear of mess. Children are messy. Good fun is messy. And I too want to be a fun, messy mom. Today, I've established that messes are so worth it in the name of fun! I've waited for the moment that Henry would be old enough to "help" me in the kitchen. Today was our first time making something together from start to finish. My little helper is currently napping while I smell fresh banana bread coming from the oven. I know as we enjoy that banana bread together, it will be extra special knowing that he helped, and that we did it together. Oh, the joy of being a mama!





Tasting the ingredients...

Getting a really good look at his dough...

Every good baker makes sure it tastes good on the way...


An assistant for the assistant...

My Henry Elf

Snow Day

Henry's list of registry must-haves

It has been fun looking back at my pregnancy and recording the things that I have learned. Now that I have made it through the newborn stage, I can see which items I appreciated having, and which items were not used.

During my pregnancy, I enjoyed spending hours scouring the internet and doing research for my registry. When it comes down to it, every baby and mama like different things. So while this list will be generally helpful, your baby may or may not agree.

1. Video monitor. These suckers are expensive but extremely helpful. If I didn't have the video monitor, I wouldn't bother with a sound one at all (unless you plan to have your baby in a room not within hearing distance). In the early days, every sound you hear will lead to a glance at the screen. Every sound you hear with your sound only monitor will lead to a trip to the nursery. Now, that's tiring!

2. My Breast Friend- Get this AND the Boppy. One will be for nursing, the other for holding your wee one. The breast friend is a MUST have for nursing.

3. Burp Cloths-Pick your style and design. Have lots on hand because a baby's spit-up power is no joke. I loved these.

4. Swaddles- Expensive, but awesome for your newborn. SO soft, and so snuggly! For the older wigglers, you will need these. The swaddling debate is that some babies like to be swaddled and others do not. Dr. Sears says this is not true- that even when a baby acts like they don't like swaddling, they actually do (If you don't know who Dr. Sears is, don't worry, you will). I don't have an answer for this. What I do know is that studies have been done to show that the REM deep sleep cycle in babies is proven to be longer in swaddled babies. Sounds good me!

5. Baby Pants-You will be given more onesies than your baby can wear. Your baby's dresser will be filled with them. For some reason, no one really likes to give pants. Stock up. I've officially warned you.

6. Baby bath- You will see many cute bathtubs. Baththtubs that are "niftier" or cuter. DON'T DO IT. This ugly bathtub has good reviews for a reason. Buy it.

7. Pacifiers. Duh. I'll even go so far as to say only get Nuk. Others may challenge this. I still say they are the best. Get as many as you can. They have magical powers. They disappear without a trace, never to be found again.

8.The swing-Your baby will without a doubt love this swing during the evening fussy period. Henry was a super happy baby, but even happy babies have their moments. His moment would almost always be during dinner. I set this swing up in the kitchen for him to lounge in during meals, or any other moment when I needed my hands. He would almost always immediately stop crying. I grew to love the music it played and Henry loved to watch the birds fly over his head. Even now at 7 months, Henry loves to hang out in his swing when he needs some down time.

9. If you like to sleep, you need to get this. Go ahead and do a little research. You will see that every parent kisses the ground this rocks on. It is literally a womb on legs. In the words of Levar Burton, "don't take my word for it".

10. As my friend calls it, the pooping chair , is another must have. Henry loved that just a little wiggling could get the seat bouncing and..er..other things moving. He also LOVED this chair. Take your pick. You really can never have too many seating options.

11. Get this mat. Henry adores the little creatures that hang from it and at 7 month he still loves to sit on it and enjoy the tactile stimulation it offers.

12. When the time comes, you will love having this space saver. I love that we can take it with us, it cleans like a dream, and Henry loves to sit at the table with us during meal time and watch us as we eat.

13.Get this and this. You will love having the snap and go for the mall and grocery store. I couldn't live without it.

14. It's disgusting, I know. But get it. The bulb sucks...or doesn't, whatever. Plus, it grows mold inside. Eeew. Thats grosser.

15. When I designed my nursery, I was adamant about wanting a chair glider. I ended up getting this one. It has turned out to be one of my favorite purchases thus far. Henry and I have spent some of our most precious moments snuggled up together while reading, playing, nursing and singing in this glider. I wouldn't trade those moments for anything! **

16. Last but certainly not least, is The Stroller. I am doing you a huge favor here. All of the research has been done. There have also been months of use to back this up- with a new baby and an older baby. You will not find a better stroller in its class. I promise. Besides cornering like a dream, having both a bassinet and a toddler seat, a rain shield, mosquito net and a roomy storage basket, it can be converted into a double stroller. Wham. Can your stroller do that? But let's not forget how beautiful it is. Utterly gorgeous. I may or may no have a love affair with this stoller. Watch out, you might find me on you-tube making one of those dorky instructional videos. **

** When you have the Deal Ma$ter for a husband, you learn to never pay list price for anything. Thanks to him, and myself, these items were most assuredly NOT purchased for the prices listed. So stop judging. I know you were.

At the end of the day, all your baby really needs is love. And a boob. And and some warm clothes. Other than that they really could sleep in a laundry basket and not give a hoot. My sister-in law would even swaddle her Houdini baby in a sports bra. But in the highly likely event that you purchase a gazillion things for your baby like we did, just know that these items are tested and approved. Oh, and do yourself and everyone else a favor and register at Amazon.

Taking a step back

This morning the Lord granted me something I deeply needed. Perspective. Somewhere between begging God for sleep and "yelling" at my husband (he calls it yelling, but I think that is up for debate), I had divine clarity.

Henry is currently teething...and growing...and learning...and well, being a baby. He has made it abundantly clear that he does not need or want the amount of sleep that I so graciously bestow upon him. And while seemingly every child around me loves to sleep, I am left with the most wide-eyed baby known to man.

I will never forget the words of Henry's pediatrician, "this is the most tired you will ever be!", just three days after Henry was born. False. False, false, false. Newborn babies sleep so much better than older babies. Older babies are so aware of their surroundings. They have mastered the cognitive concept of "object permanence". What a beautiful thought that my baby knows I still exist after I leave the room. And what a horrible reality for sleep. They have come to realize that they are powerful, tiny humans with great say.

I was not prepared for the reality of night wakings in the later months. I had always assumed it would only get better. And though ultimately I know it will get better, I am still left feeling exhausted and frustrated. I am mainly frustrated with myself, wondering where I may have gone wrong in our sleep training (or lack thereof).

It is in these moments of frustration that the Lord tugs at my heart. When He whispered Isaiah 40:28-31, it reminded me of my utter need for strength from my savior. Not just in the sleepless nights, but in every aspect of motherhood. I know that there will be many more moments where I will question which direction I am to take and whether I have made the right decisions. Ultimately, I will face larger parenting hurdles that have greater consequences than lack of sleep. But what better time to practice relying on my Father than during these small hurdles. I know that I have a God who never grows tired and he has offered to pick up my burden and carry it for me.

Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

One day I will look back at this tiny moment in my life and I will see beauty. Those nights of rocking my sweet boy will have vanished, but I know that I will still remember the way he felt in my arms. My sweet bundle of needy joy is such a picture of how I need my Father. He is teaching me daily to follow his lead and give grace and patience to Henry. I am thankful that even when I have a spirit of frustration, the Lord reminds me of the brevity of this season. He reminds me to draw on his strength. All of the sudden a sleepless night isn't so scary.

Body After Baby Part 1

Please bear with me. As I write, I have a 6.5 month old grabbing the computer. Therefore, I type quickly.My thoughts may sometimes be scrambled, and there may be spelling errors. No judgment please!

Believe it or not, the road to the recovery of my pre-Henry body actually happened before Henry was even born. Being the research fiend that I am, I spent a good amount of time reading about pregnancy and post-pregnancy fitness. I didn't want to have any "I wish I had known that!" moments.

I started the first few weeks of my first trimester like many pregnant women: afraid to move. I didn't want to jostle my new resident. My common sense and everything that I had read told me that this was silly; he was in there protected by my squishy womb bubble. At around 12 weeks, I let go and fully realized that my nugget was in the Lord's hands. He was knitting him together in my womb, after all. I then got moving.

Because my financial situation did not allow for a gym membership or paying for expensive classes, I really relied on at home exercise.

I started doing this video daily. I also did lots of walking. I can't stress enough how important walking is. Especially when you don't feel like moving, it really energizes you! I also loved Amira's belly dance and yoga video.

Being pregnant also inspired me to eat better than I ever had in the past. I certainly splurged from time to time, but I did not use the pregnant license "I can eat whatever I want".

It should be noted that I did NOT watch my weight gain during pregnancy. I truly believe that you can do everything right and gain a lot of weight. Your body is going to do what it is going to do. You need to trust that. Watching the scale is great in the beginning when you don't gain much weight, but after that it really goes downhill fast.

I ate when I was hungry and attempted to make healthy choices. Due to my serious aversion to meat, I relied on protein shakes and eggs to help fill me up while meeting mine and baby's protein needs.

My favorite pregnancy protein shake (rough measurements):

8 ice cubes

1.5 bananas

1/4 cup almonds

3 TBS peanut butter

1 TBS honey

1/2 cup almond milk or regular milk

1 scoop whey protein


As I neared the end of my pregnancy I continued to walk, do yoga videos and belly dance. I also did pregnancy appropriate ab workouts. This is really important for the success of ab rejuvenation after baby. I loved these videos.

Zoom ahead to Henry's birth, one week postpartum I started wearing The Bellybandit. There are many mixed reviews on the matter of belly binding, but I must say that for me, it worked. I wore it every day for 2 months. On days that I didn't wear it I noticed my belly slowly go back out over the course of a couple days. After weeks of wearing it I noticed my belly eventually didn't go out again and my waist was back to its pre-baby size. Would it have done that with out the binding? Maybe. But it did shrink awfully quickly! I believe that over time it would have done this on its own-but the binding certainly expedited the process.

7 Weeks postpartum:



In my next post (and I PROMISE it will not take so long this time!), I will share my postpartum secrets I used along with the belly binding in the first weeks after baby.

Henry's Story

As I sit and look at Henry sleeping in his swing, it feels like we've known each other forever. Something that no one ever told me (maybe I'm different), is that your baby really is a stranger. A sweet little stranger, but you really don't know them. You meet them for the first time and it truly is as though someone hands you a baby out of nowhere and says "here, this is yours". There really is nothing like it. And now, I almost can't remember life before him.

Here is Henry's story to the best of my memory.

On Sunday, June 24th (Henry's due date), I thought my water had broken. I never realized before becoming pregnant that there could be any confusion about such a thing. I was on the phone with my mom, and told her I felt a small gush of water. We both "obviously" thought this was my water breaking. Will and I packed up the car and headed to the hospital. There I was checked by a midwife who, after performing a quick test, told me that no, my water had not broken. We headed home. Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed. Days passed, and what I had thought had been my water, continued to drip (NOT normal).

On Wednesday, June 27th, my good friend Esther and her mom stopped by. Esther knew I was less than pleased with my current pregnant state. They lifted my spirits through gifts for Henry and prayer. Against Esther's mom's better judgment, I did not go straight to the hospital (she suspected that my water had in fact broken). I instead waited for my OB appt. the next morning.

On Thursday, June 28th, I went to Mercy Hospital to the Advanced Fetal Care Center. Because I was overdue, they needed to check my fluid levels and count Henry's movements over the course of an hour (everything checked out fine). I received two ultrasound photos, one of which I noted Henry looked a bit alien-like. The nurse said, "well, we don't actually know what aliens look like".....alrighty then.

I then headed over to my OB office next to the hospital. I told her the story from that weekend about my suspected water breaking. She was concerned and decided to do the test again. She looked up at me and said "it did break!..you need to go to the hospital today-we are going to induce you!" I was thrilled and horrified all at once.

I rushed home to shower, eat and pack the car. Will and I arrived at the hospital at around 3:00pm. After being checked into our room, the doctor came in to talk to me. Because my water hadn't fully broken (why it was leaking, not a "gush"), she could either break it all the way, or start me right away on Pitocin. Looking back I wish we had just cut to the chase and started Pitocin. My water being broken did nothing. All it did was start useless contractions that caused pain but no progress. My doctor gave me until 12am. If at that point I hadn't made any progress I would start Pitocin.

Me before things got REAL



walking the halls, trying to get things moving...look at that unsuspecting smile...



At midnight, I hadn't made any progress. This is where it got really fun. The Pitocin did its work of causing a pain I've never felt. What it didn't do, was actually cause progress. After 2am I still was no further dilated. At this point the pit was making me nauseous and I was throwing up. The doctor gave me phenergan for the nausea. I was so out of it that I didn't realize that she had given me demerol. This made me extremely loopy. At around 2:30am I cried uncle and asked for the epidural. Honestly, getting the epidural was not that bad. I have heard horror stories, but nothing compares to being in labor...this was child's play.

After receiving the epidural, I unfortunately wasn't able to relax. I could still feel the contractions, just at nowhere near the same intensity. The epidural caused my blood pressure to drop frighteningly low, and I was given oxygen (Will has recapped most of this to me as I was so out of it). Because of my low blood pressure, it also caused me to continue to throw up. At around 4:30am I was checked again and had only made it to 4cm (insert me miming wrist slitting).

At 6:30am I called the nurse in as I felt like I needed to go number 2. This was actually the urge to push! Wahoo! I was 8 1/2 cm. At around 7am I called the nurse in and said "I need to push NOW". I was fully dilated, praise the Lord! I started pushing at 7:10am and Henry was born at 7:28am on Friday, June 29th.

He entered the world screaming and flailing those precious little arms and legs. I will never forget looking into those deep blue, alert eyes. I was just so surprised at how alert he was; looking right at Will and me. He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

When mothers say that you forget the pain when you see your child; they are so right. The moment you have your baby in your arms you realize that it doesn't matter how they got there. The only thing that truly matters is that they are alive and well.

I had some very wonderful images in my mind as to what I wanted my labor to look like. Just about everything I didn't want to happen, (short of a c-section) ended up happening. And yet, it doesn't even matter.

Henry is here, and we are so loving life.

The. End.












Will followed him everywhere. Even to his circumcision.







First diaper change...



And not happy about it.



















"Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be"
Psalm 139:16

Coming soon...

First few weeks with baby and How I got my body back