My Poor Attempt to Update.......!

                                                               12 Weeks! (2 weeks ago!)
Tom and I are excited about our expectation of TWINS to our family but no doubt that this reality comes with a little anxiety at least for me!  When I think naively, as a new mom does, of having two little precious babies to cuddle I am very excited!  But when I think of all the work, as an experienced mom, I become overwhelmed in my thoughts of caring for two vs one and still wanting to be the best mom I can be to my first precious gift from God!  At times I have cried over the overwhelming thoughts of it and yet I don't want to be unthankful for these precious gifts!  My husband ALWAYS lovingly reminds that God has provided these two babies and blessed us in that and He will provide for us in our needs for them and our strength and our patience comes from God alone.  Another dear friend reminded me over tea that God would never bring anything into our lives that would be detrimental to Titus as I worry about being a great mom to him while caring for two infants.  It is funny to me how many women have told me "I always wanted twins!" and I think "Really?, the reality of it just seems a bit overwhelming to me!"  We both have always thought that twins is something that happens to other people but we wouldn't have them ourselves!

My pregnancy with them has been one of feeling great thus far!  My biggest challenge has been sleeping and I think from not getting enough sleep at times I seem to have minor headaches now and then.  But I have been blessed in both pregnancies to be able to eat what I want whenever I want and not suffer from morning sickness!  I am naively excited about getting a little further along when I can feel them both moving, I say naively cuz I am sure at some point the size of my belly will just be an unbearable discomfort and I will just want them to be born.  But I always have thought pregnancy and feeling that life in you is one of the most amazing gifts God has given to women!  I have felt them move now and then already, starting around 11 weeks was when I first knew it was them moving and not something else!

Titus continues to just grow up so fast!  He is gaining in his vocabulary with words like "ca" for car, "ball", "Pooh" when he sees Winnie the Pooh, "tee" for teeth and a few others but those are his most used!  He understands so much like "time to brush your teeth" and "time for a nap or bed", he runs to those places to 'do' those things!  Last night he slept with 3 balls in his crib with him!  He loves to watch both basketball and football, and practice those different 'throws'.  Even from watching hockey he likes to find something to push the balls around on the floor with like he is playing the game!  He loves to eat just about anything, veggies are his biggest struggle while fresh fruits are his favorite, but he will eat or try just about anything else you put in front of him!  I tried to get him onto drinking cows milk by putting Nesquik in it, the least amount I could and it still taste like chocolate and that lasted about 2 weeks and then he didn't really enjoy it anymore.  But he loves water so that is great!  I haven't even desired to introduce him to juice, he can discover that on his own, his Pediatrician said it doesn't really do anything beneficial for them and eating fresh fruits is much better because of the fiber than drinking the juice alone so we'll just stick with that as long as we can!

Well obviously we are going to have to move from our 2 bedroom place before these babies come!  We feel most comfortable and at peace continuing to rent a place, we already have to buy a car that will fit all of us with the 3 car seats we will have and with the twins coming this year we feel that those two things are big enough to take on without a house payment and all the responsibility that comes with owning!  We feel we would have a little more financial freedom if we continued to rent rather than own.  We have looked at a few places and none of them either seemed big enough even as 3 bedrooms or they are too old with things outdated that we are not comfortable with with small children around!  We have one lead that we are waiting and praying for!  A man in our church approached Tom about a split level house him and his wife rent out in a nice location of town near our church!  It has 3 bedrooms plus a bonus room with 2 bathrooms, a gas fireplace downstairs, a dishwasher and lino on the dining room floor!  We currently have carpeting in our dining room which is ok with 1 child but I don't think is so wise with 3 and I have not had a dishwasher in the last 6 years I've been in this place!  It also has a nice yard and is on a quiet street!  We haven't seen the inside of it yet and they currently get $1000 for rent plus the tenant pays all the utilities but he said they would be willing to negotiate on the rent!  Our current budget only allows for around $1000/month to put towards all of that and we would be living pretty tightly for a while til Tom gets a raise.  He was going to find out what is paid in the current utilities and set a time for us to look at it and then we can talk!  We probably wouldn't be able to move in there until July as the current renter is staying until school gets out for her kids.  So we are very hopeful on this place and looking forward to see what God has for us no matter where it is!

Wow! Hello December!

Man alive, I have gotten terrible at keeping up with the blog and I blame Facebook!  I apologize for those of you who actually may enjoy reading this and I have not posted recently!

Our family is doing great, all is pretty much healthy besides the normal cold here and there!  Titus and I both have that right now but that is minor compared to dealing with health issues on a daily basis.  Tom's work at Allegiance is going well, he just changed shifts again from 7-4 to now 6-3pm!  He is still adjusting to this change, his lunch is now at 10am and I don't think he feels like he is actually hungry at that time for a 'lunch'.  And usually Titus is napping at that time so he can no longer come home for lunch otherwise 99% of the time it wakes Titus up early from his much needed nap. 

Titus just reached the 18 month mark and will have a well baby check on Monday!  I am actually in the process of weaning him right now!  Since about a year of age I would say, he has only been nursing first thing in morning and then naps and bedtime (4 times a day) but since this last Saturday I have only nursed him twice a day and yesterday I tried to get away with no nursing at all but he was very upset at his nap time in the morning with this and therefore no nap occurred!  Today so far a success, no nursing and nap is being enjoyed right now!  We will see!  I am excited at the possibility of being free of that but sad too because that means he is growing up that much more and needs his mommy for one less thing.  But I think emotionally for him is it better now than to wait from things I have heard from other moms who have continued past 18 months.

Titus is getting two more teeth in, making it 14 teeth now!  He looks more and more everyday like a little boy and no longer a baby.  And he has an arm on him and loves to 'play catch' the best an 18 month old knows how!  He loves gadgets and electronics and the toilet right now.  Thankfully he has yet to flush anything down it but he loves watching the swirl of the flush!  He continues to love his bath time and splashing mommy or daddy as much as possible!  And he loves climbing anywhere he can get!

Our Thanksgiving was eventful!  We were expecting to spend it alone or with maybe some college students  who had no where to go since Tom's parents already planned with us to come for Christmas!  But what was going to be their trip to WA to spend with their other son and his family turned into all coming to Missoula for a better part of their trip to spend with us and my sister-in-laws family who lives in Lolo and Bozeman!  It all worked out and was much fun for Titus with his cousins, aunt, uncle, grandparents and others and we will get to see the grandparents for Christmas again!  It would be nice to see my parents for Christmas and the invitation is there but I don't think they will make it considering the long drive on possibly very scary roads!  I have to admit that I felt very upset when I found out that one side of the family was getting us for both major holidays and felt that no one had thought about how I would feel about that.  But the Lord calmed those angry feelings one day and although I wasn't really looking forward to Thanksgiving it went a lot better than I expected and all the things that I get very anxious about when it comes to in-laws never really transpired.  Which I keep finding that 90% of the time that is the case, all my anxiety is for nothing!  Praise God for that!

Anyway I think that is all for now!  Hope you enjoy some of the new pics and music I changed out on the blog!  We have a snow covering here in Montana, how is the weather where you are?  

So Thankful!

I'm so thankful....

that Tom and I have finally joined a Life Group in our church body.  What is a Life Group you ask?  Well  it is like an in home bible study that is held at some one's house who is willing to open up their home to other believers in the church.  We study the bible together, in our churches case, our Life Groups study over the passage that the Pastor is going to or has just preached on the following or past week.  It gives us a chance to explore with others what we are all learning together on Sunday.  There are about 6 other couples in our Life Group that we get a chance to get to know and grow spiritually together.  Plus our kids all get to play together while being watched by a sweet babysitter!  We also get to enjoy dinner together that evening and there are even chances for us to go out into the community and serve together and be God's hands and feet to our community!  This is exciting because our church is so big and can be overwhelming to try to get to know others plus we are connecting with others who are in the same stage of life as us, young parents!

I'm also thankful that I had joined a mom's book study this summer, not only was the book very enjoyable that we read: One Heartbeat Away, Your Journey Into Eternity by Mark Cahill, but I met many other mom's my age and now am part of their group book study at our church on Thursday mornings called Koinonia where we are studying through Beth Moore's study on Daniel: Lives of Integrity, Words of Prophecy.

I'm very thankful for our son, he just continues to grow and progress in his development.  He just had his 15 month check up at the beginning of this month and he was 33 1/4 in. long making him taller than 95% of the kids his age and weighed in at 22 lbs. 10 oz. making him weigh more than only 25% of the kids his age.  He continues to be just like his dad, tall and skinny!  And he is a continuous joy and blessing to our lives, of course making us want more kids but we are not pregnant as of yet!

I'm also thankful for my husband, I started a jewelry business in April of this year and he has been very supportive all the way.  I make custom made birthstone bracelets and earrings for moms, grandmothers etc. and when I started I was using silver plated pieces and components not really realizing the quality difference it is to Sterling Silver.  Both can tarnish but only Sterling Silver can be polished back to the shiny silver color you want it to be and therefore lasting for years to come over silver plated pieces.  So this last month in August he supported me to make a big investment in Sterling Silver to be able to offer my customers the best quality of product I can.  You can find my business on Facebook under "Adorned With Your Little Blessings", go here, or I have a business blog by the same name listed below to the right under 'Blogs and Sites We Follow'.  Soon I will be posting new pictures of the upgraded product to both sites and will be also selling it on Etsy.com, where you can find a variety of handmade things.

Walking, Climbing & Much More!

More and more I know I am really enjoying my time at home as a full time mom.  Titus is just growing into this fun little boy and he is so precious in so many ways.  His smile is precious, his personality is precious, his learning capabilities are precious, his tender heart is precious and his spirit is precious.  Thank You Father for such a precious child to call my own for the time he is here on this earth.  May I be faithful to nurture his heart into a young boy who loves You in every way.  He has already shown concern for others, when we are around other children and they get hurt or start crying for other reasons, he goes to them and seems as though he is curious as to whether they are okay.  I just love watching his interaction with others, he is very curious and ready to "play" with others.  Makes his mama's heart just melt.

Daddy captured a great smile that I wanted to share with you all!  He has 8 teeth!

My cousin Heidi just graduated from Valley Christian High School here in Missoula last Sunday and this was a toy that my uncle put out for the kids to play with, his old set of roping horns!  Titus loved it, notice the verse reference on the "ear tag".

At 49 weeks, last Saturday, Titus started taking his first steps!  Every time we would get out the video he would resort to crawling!  He is doing it more everyday, I WILL catch him with my video eye!

Trying to get him to balance to walk on his own at the dance following the graduation party!  A first ever Valley related dance, woohoo go Valley!  Daddy dressed him for church that day!  Can you tell?  Mom picked the shirt out at the store though!

We did our first backpack hike last night!  Very awesome!  We went up to the "L", only 1 1/2 mile round trip and elevation gain of 500 ft.!  It was much easier than the time we did it last year just after I had Titus!  It was a breeze compared to what I remember then!

"L" stands for my Love and Lil Muffin in my opinion!  Ha!  Titus loved the backpack, he was just "chatting" away and enjoying his snacks mommy brought him!  I was shocked, he did much better than the first time we tried it, course he was much smaller then.

The view of good ol Missoula from the "L".

Some beautiful wildflowers we saw on our hike included the Indian Paintbrush!

Titus missing his oldest cousin, Gracie!  He was "chatting" away at her pic and loving the frame she is in.

Can you say "spider man!"  He climbs up on the rocking chair himself and then decides he wants to go for the speaker and climbs the back of the chair!  Yes, he does know the word "No!" already but I wanted to get a pic of it first!

I Captured a Sign of Spring!

I was so excited to look out our living room window yesterday and see a whole flock of these beautiful Bluebirds making their way through our gully!  This picture doesn't do it justice as to how blue they really are!  So beautiful!

Oh I thought I should write on the fishing day from last week! Tom did not get any pics cuz it was kind of cloudy and rainy from what I heard. Another guy that went with did get some pics but we have yet to see them. He said that surprisingly the day was really slow, 2 other guys went with him and 1 of them got skunked! Tom caught his limit but ended up throwing one back cuz it was smaller than the other 4, significantly I would guess. And Wayne caught his limit too but it took them both all day to get their limit, that is how slow it was. He also said that there were tons of people there fishing besides them so I'm sure that contributed to the slowness.

I also sold my car exactly a week after listing it on Craigslist!  So happy about that!  It went for $450 and off to Helena!  I waived goodbye as it rode off on a trailer!

The Big Catch!

I am so excited because today Tom is on his annual Spring fishing day to never never gonna tell ya land to catch his tasty limit of 5 BIG trout!  They don't even have to wade in the waters at this place they go, they just catch them from the bank!  I have already invited my parents to join him for next year but if anyone ever wants to come to Montana for Easter and participate in this special fishing day, let me know!  Tom had started teaching a student in youth group some casting techniques for fly fishing and was hoping to take him along today because he said it is the perfect opportunity for him to know how it feels to catch them and all that jazz.  But that shows how easy it is where they go cuz the fish are spawning!  So hopefully tomorrow I will be able to post some pics.

Titus is now working on getting his 7th tooth in!  He is so sweet and handsome, that boy just melts my heart!  He has the cutest grin and giggles!  He's beginning to test his climbing abilities!  Sounds like some stories I have heard about his dad!  He loves music whether it is at church or we are listening and dancin in the living room to some of moms favorite artists.  He is finally just about over his cold, I have been bathing him every night to help him get rid of those icky germs and still drinking my 'great tasting' Emergen-C, I think I like the Raspberry flavor the best!  The nurse also suggested to make some saline solution drops for his nose which has helped a lot!  But other than that she said there isn't a whole lot to do at this age for them other than what I'm already doing.  He has been happy and playful and without fevers pretty much the whole time he has been sick.

Titus also LOVES it when mommy reads to him, each morning we read about 4 books right before he goes back down for a nap and he has become mommy's big helper and he turns the pages for me!  I LOVE IT!  So cute!  He also LOVES it when daddy practices walking with him, he likes to do that every night when daddy gets home from work.

Well here is the picture of 'our big catch' for Titus!  It is so nice and rides so smoothly!  Right now we just have the jogging kit attachment for it and Titus seems to love it so far!  Much more roomier than his regular stroller was.  This summer we want to get the cycling kit for it so that we can not only do lots of biking with him but we would love to do the Route of the Hiawatha with my family when they come to visit in July.  The adjustable suspension system for the weight of the passenger(s) is such a great feature too!  And the storage bag in the back can hold up to 8.8 lbs. which will be nice when we go to the local farmers/peoples market this summer!  We picked the 'avocado' color thinking that would best match our bikes plus they carry the red one in the store and we see that one everywhere!

Well I best be going, think I might have my car sold!  Got a response yesterday after putting it on Craiglist Saturday and she seems pretty interested after I sent her some pics!  Pray for that please!

A Long Weekend!

Usually a long weekend is accompanied by an extra day off from work for Tom but that is not the case in this long weekend.  We are experiencing our first challenge of child sickness with Titus :(  Despite the fact that mommy not only stays home with Titus and has hesitated to even put him in the nursery at church on Sunday mornings and every time we are exposed to sickness I drink that nice Emergen-C stuff as preventative for him and I he still caught daddy's nasty cold.  I think the Emergen-C has actually worked in the past for him, even once I was sick and took it so that he would get anything beneficial from it through breast milk and he didn't get sick then.  But this cold that Tom had was nasty!  So Titus' nose had been getting a little clear drainage earlier this week and then yesterday it hit him good and he didn't nap very well yesterday and I thought he wouldn't sleep very well last night but he did okay with only some coughing really now and then.  But this morning we found a very stuffy, dried crusted, sad looking baby in his crib, which was not fun for any of us to deal with getting rid of.  Our poor baby boy has been a little bit playful as the day went on but he was very sad looking with his horrible breathing sounds and very cuddly because of it.  Which makes any parent happy to have a cuddly baby.

So please pray for him, he did get some good rest today and has been sleeping now for about 2 hours.  But as a result we stayed home today to keep our germs to ourselves and to let him rest and we sure did miss seeing lots of our friends today at church.  And we did miss the fellowship that church brings into our lives and the teaching of the Word.  I am so thankful for the church body that we have and the men that serve in our church as Pastors.

P.S. We did make our big purchase this weekend but were disappointed to find out that the 20% off coupon could not be used on strollers!  We did use it on the jogging kit for it though and we did get to use our dividend on the stroller.  So we missed out on saving $124 on it but it was a great investment for our child(ren) and that just means we get more of a dividend back on it next year!

Growing Boy!

So I took my sweet little man to see the pretty nurse today to see how big he is getting! He has officially outgrown his infant car seat which makes his mommy sad, that means he is that much closer to turning 1 yr. physically to me anyway! He is now 30 in. long and weighs 19 lbs. 3 1/2 oz., but what should I expect, I am 5'9" and Tom is 6'4". So now we can install his "captains chair" as I will call it, that is what it looks like straight off of Star Trek! Ha!

I am so excited though this weekend we are going to make a big purchase for Titus, he will get a Chariot Carrier Cougar 2 Stroller/Trailer Chassis, Lord willing! But it has different kits you can buy to attach to it for use also in cross country skiing, jogging and hiking! So it is like a 5-in-1 deluxe carrier! We thought it would be best to purchase the 2 passenger one because we plan on having more than 1 child sooner than later. It is $85 more and holds a 100 lb. limit rather than the 75 lb. limit of the 1 passenger Chariot. But we have our member dividend back from REI and 20% off a full price item to use this weekend so those combined alone will make purchasing it AND a kit about the same price as the Chariot Carrier 1 passenger alone! So that is awesome!

Tom has gotten a cold this week and actually stayed home from work yesterday, which takes a lot for him to stay home. But he's starting to feel better and he is making salmon tonight, mmmmm, he got some out today to thaw from his ice fishing catch this winter. So excited, he also has a break from youth group tonight because of the kids' spring break!

Titus is starting to eat peas, green beans & broccoli, he also loves his bananas with yogurt!

Well I best be going, hope you have had a wonderful God blessed day!

What Would You Do?

Hey I would totally be adding pics today of my handsome boy but Tom has our camera and he is with his friend Mike up Lolo Pass tonight to spend the night in a snow cave that they will build for themselves!  They will return early tomorrow in time for church.  Sounds fun but Titus is a bit to young for that, so fun pics shall come later this week if not tomorrow!

Titus is making more and more gibberish noise everyday, I mean I know he is talking, I am just not clued into what language it is yet?  Anyway whatever he is saying is sure cute and interesting to all of us!  He is so close to walking, with your help he will walk straight forward on the length of the living room to the kitchen no problem.  He is getting two top teeth in, one front one and one beside it on his left side.  Makes for a cute smile, why is a smile like that so creepy on an adult?  Anyway good times with him, he remains a generally happy baby despite all of his tooth action going on.  He is such a sweet little blessing and I am so excited for his first words and for him to be able to talk!  Can you imagine?

I wanted to tell you of an interesting incident that happened earlier this week.  On Wednesdays I have started to help Daisy with her kids for almost a few hours in the afternoons.  Something that makes her life a little easier AND gives our children some time to play together on a regular basis so that they know each other.  Well this last Wednesday I got home around 6:30 I figured out from looking at some of my text, and one of our neighbors (lives in same building, which is like a 12 plex but it split up into 3 sets of four if that makes sense?) who lives one section up from us, same as us, upstairs and to the left, was sitting out in his big Chevy truck listening to music loudly.  Like his doors were shut but it sounded like church bells were ringing from downtown, that is how loud it was but muffled because doors were shut.  This is very unusual for him, never seen him do it before, him and his wife have lived here since I believe Tom has, I remember them moving in shortly after we got married.  They are older, like old enough to be my parents and from the south, they have those neat accents you always wish you could perfect yourself and they have always been really nice whenever we have talked in passing.  Anyway Tom left for youth group about 6:50 and he was still in his truck listening to his music Tom said.  Well Tom likes to chat with Brian usually or students can be slow at getting out of the youth room, so yg is usually from 7-9 but Tom honestly rarely gets home before 9:30 and sometimes closer to 10.  Well I laid Titus down just shy of 9 and I just simply take him in his room and lay him down, I don't turn on lights or anything, he is in the front room of our apartment right next to the entryway.  And then I made sure the door was unlocked because it never fails that every time Tom comes home, lunch time usually, but sometimes on Wednesday nights too, he wakes him up getting his key in the door and getting the door opened.  Well I went and sat down on the couch and all the sudden someone basically sounds like they are running up the steps and comes in the apt and kind of slams the door I would say compared to how Tom and I close the door.  I knew it wasn't Tom!  He would have been home way to early and he never is that loud coming up the stairs or coming in the door!

Now what transpired next only took place in about the span of 2-3 minutes but seemed like 10 to me!  I immediately began to question "who was there?"  And I received no answer, I had the TV on too so I am not sure if he thought it was the television but I thought I was asking rather loudly in a demanding voice.  "Tom is that you?",  no answer, "Who is in the house?" no answer.  Soon he turned on the hall light and he said "What is this thing?" referring to Tom's Chimney Starter for his charcoal grill that was sitting in our entry area.  If you don't know what it is, google it, it is kind of a strange looking thing if you don't know what it is or use a charcoal grill.  Well I was standing near our bedroom door in the back of apartment when he asked that ? because I was going to get the shot gun in our bedroom because this stranger was not answering me and he was right next to my sons bedroom!  When he posed that ? I said "you are in the wrong apartment" and he apologized and turned around to leave.  I recognized his voice with his accent when he apologized and then I went to see him out so that I could see him and make sure it was who I thought it was and all I saw was the back of him as he left.  And I smelled cigarettes for sure on him and possibly more like alcohol but I'm not sure, all I know is he reeked! 

Titus woke just as the door shut and started crying and my heart was beating so fast, I don't think I have been so scared since crazy incidents happened to my sisters, mom and I when I was in junior high!  Titus was really upset I think because he heard me basically yelling at this guy with my ?'s and mommy is never that loud when he is sleeping!  Now I think it was an honest mistake on his part coming into the wrong apartment, we both live upstairs on the left and when he finally turned on the light he voiced a ? like he didn't recognize where he was and immediately apologized and left.  But it is strange that if he came to our apartment directly from his truck, why that happened, he parks straight out from his own apartment and always has!  But possibly he was sitting out there smoking if his wife doesn't let him smoke inside (these are no smoking places) and he went down to the dumpster to get rid of his ashes and such which is down past our place and walking back up towards his place, he turned in to go to his apt. one sidewalk too soon?  I don't know, I talked to our neighbors downstairs that I would trust with anything and they thought it was a complete accident from what they know of him.  They tend to get to know the people around them if possible cuz they are old and retired and he does all the snow shoveling around our building and cars.  And he helped this couple when they moved in since their moving trailer blew out a tire.  Plus they are Christians and watch out for me like they are my own grandparents.

But there is always ?'s of whether it was an accident or not.  I told my mom the following morning and she and my dad both thought that at best an incident report needed to be given to the police in case it wasn't an accident and it happens again!  The concerned grandparents and parents that they are, which they should be, immediately thought of all the worst case scenarios that could have happened (baby kidnapping, rape, sexual abuse) and that was all that I thought about the next day while Tom was at work.  And this world is crazy and only getting worse despite what people living in denial want to believe.  But there isn't any of those listed offenders above living in these apartments, as I checked online and the closest is 1.45 miles away according to familywatchdog.com.  And I believe that God is Sovereign and knew what was going to happen, maybe this accident happened for a reason.  Maybe this is a wake up call to get to know our neighbors and reach out to them.  My neighbors downstairs did tell me that this guys dad just had a stroke like this week and he may need to travel to OK for him.  All I know is we are praying about our response to this incident because we do feel we need to approach them about it in some way.  But what would you do?  Our natural reaction is to assume the worst and fight, and our natural reaction comes from our sinful nature of Adam.  But what is our supernatural reaction supposed to be, coming from our new nature in Christ?

Sorry this is extremely long but I wanted to share this story with you.

Hello All!

It has been a little while since I actually wrote an update, so I thought I would do that this morning even though I am sure most of you just enjoy the pictures of our adorable little blessing in this home!

As you can see from my design change I am getting anxious for Spring to arrive, just to get outside and enjoy beautiful warm sunshine with Tom and Titus will be fun and refreshing.  We did get some fresh snow last night so it does look quit crisply beautiful outside now.  And we always have visiting deer outside our living room window in the gully below our apartment and they are much easier to spot with fresh snow on the ground than dead grass at this point revealed through as the snow melts away.  So I will be thankful for the snow but still long for Spring to come in my heart. 

Spring brings newness of life and reminds us of the new life we have in Christ especially with Easter approaching and we get to celebrate Christ's victory over sin and death in this world with His Resurrection.  He takes the old sin nature we have and gives us the opportunity to live with a new sinless nature, reminding us that every morning His mercy is new for us.  We have a choice of which nature we want to follow and please, ours or His?  Do we want to speak words of death or words of life into someone else's life?  Do we want to live a defeated life or do we want to live a loved life?  Do we want to feel like an old muddy pond day in and day out or a spring in the mountains with fresh, clean water coming up through us each moment?  Do we want to feel like we live in a rut or live with purpose and a mission in life from the Author of Life Himself?  Just some food for thought for you.

This last weekend we got to enjoy some time with the Sells (smallies) kids.  Daisy had a little weekend "getaway" with a girlfriend here in town, they didn't want to travel far because you never know what the weather might do here.  So Sunday after church we went over for our "shift" of the weekend for her which was till she got home around dinner time.  It was so much fun, if we had a big enough place I am not sure that 5 children would be that bad honestly.  Mia wanted to make some of her own kitchen creations so I was up for letting her get into it.  She made a "blueberry shake" with the blender.  Which included of course frozen blueberries, ice cubes, a little water and a little strawberry syrup?  Her and Sior thoroughly enjoyed it so I guess it was good.  Then she wanted to attempt to make a homemade cinnamon roll!  She mixed some flour, water, an egg and some cinnamon together and we baked it in the oven!  I knew it wouldn't turn out but I was kind of busy making lunch and then trying to get Titus to nap and the twins to nap while she was making her concoction.  And when it came out of the oven she put a packet of that raspberry Emergen-C stuff on top of it!  Yikes!  Then Sior decided he wanted to get in on the fun so we made a real yellow cake from a box and decided it was a "Welcome Home Mom" cake, (auntie Carrie's way of not letting them eat some until mom got home).  It was complete with Rainbow Sprinkle frosting!  And then I decided I wanted to make banana bread too since Daisy had some good ripe bananas perfect for it.  Both Mia and Sior helped me with that too.  They actually did the mixing and cracking of the eggs and most of the work and I loved it.  So I told them that they will have to come spend the night with us and we can make real homemade cinnamon rolls.  Poor Titus did not nap for us though which we were afraid that would happen, in a "strange" place and the twins love to make lots of noise and play very loudly before they actually fall asleep so it was not going to work for him.  But Tom ended up separating them because he could tell one was sleepy and the other was just instigating.  So only 1 out of the 3 children needing naps got one.  But Titus went to bed pretty early after we got home cuz he was so tired so that was nice, I just felt bad cuz he got extremely crabby.

Titus got to explore crawling up steps for the first time two Sundays ago!  I knew he could do it if given the chance, we just don't have any steps so we tried it at church and he went right up them!  I was kind of surprised!  Then this last Sunday we did it again and again during the Sunday School hour, I guess the part I will have to teach is coming down the steps?!

Oh I am attempting to learn how to knit!  I bought this teaching book with the tools and an instructional DVD too.  It was funny, with the first two lessons in the book so far it has been hard for me to just get it and then I watch the video and I still have trouble.  But my wonderful husband who probably wouldn't want you to know this is a quick learner and after watching the video he knew what she was doing and he taught me the first two lessons which is all I've done so far!  He is amazing, I told him I married him because he would teach me how to knit!  Lol!  No then I told him it was because he can do anything he puts his mind to!  That is partly true for me!  So I am very excited because I have recently just wanted to learn something like that where you can make your own things and I think my first project will be a baby blanket for my precious boy!  Can't wait, I will have to post pics.

Must go my sweet little man is awake from his nap now.

Oh The Places You Go....!

Today was a very productive day for Mommy!  Titus got his morning nap and then off we went to run some errands.  We do not do that very often I have to say, so we basically stay home A LOT.  But today I wanted and needed to get some things done outside of the house, outside of these four very white boring walls!  I love my time with my family, don't misunderstand that and lately I am loving the freedom that comes with a now 8 month old crawling and exploring!  Not only is it freedom for him no doubt but it means more freedom for Mom.  I don't have to be present (within arms length) to satisfy my sons every want.  I can actually do the dishes, with one eye on Titus, while he explores the living room!  And it is VERY FUN to watch him explore, at least at this point it is.  He is pulling himself up to a standing position on anything that is even the least bit stable, which includes a rocking chair! 

But today we went to the great store of Wal-Mart to work on some Valentine projects Titus wanted to do!  We went to the grocery store and had lunch with my aunt Mary, which the company was way better than the food I have to say!  We went to the mall to pay our cell phone bill, ugh!  And we went to see the pretty nurse at Titus' doctors office so that we could see how big we are getting!  His last check up was at 6 months in December and his next one won't be until he is 1 year in June, so we were curious to see how much we have grown and 6 months is way to long to wait!  Well, he has grown but not as much as mommy and daddy were thinkin he has.  He is now 17 lbs. 11 oz. and 28 1/2 in. long.  Only about 1 pound up and a 1/4 in. longer since his last checkup!  So technically he could stay in his infant seat still since it goes till 30 lbs. or 30 ins., whichever comes first.  We just got him this convertible seat (rear-facing to front-facing) thinking he was beyond the 30 ins. by now and it looks like a captains chair off of Star-Trek!  It does kind of go into a laying position for the rear-facing but not enough cuz when he falls asleep in it his little head hangs forward and I feel terrible for him thinking that has to be so uncomfortable.

Titus is also beginning to love his solid food, he seems to no longer really take the time to taste it or move it around to check out its texture, he just eats it!  Unless of course he doesn't like it, like pears, he seems to not like them.  He takes after his mom on that one, I do not like the grainy texture of pears.  I do like his pureed version of them but he doesn't seem to?  But he likes bananas, apples, carrots, sweet potato and parsnip so far.  Next is butternut squash, mmmmm!

I thought I would add a pic of a tasty dish Tom makes for us sometimes, also great for any vegetarians!  He buys frozen pot stickers (aka gyoza in Japanese) and fry and steams them on the stove top.  And he sautes frozen green beans in soy sauce and oil or butter.  Then he has this amazing rice cooker, that cooks the rice perfectly sticky in just 10 minutes and voila you have a wonderful Japanese style meal!  So yummy!

Anyway I should go, I don't think I forgot anything important!?

Changes....

What a blessing it is to be able to be home with Titus as he grows through all of these precious stages. I finally felt after about 6 1/2 months to get a routine down that makes both of us happy. That seems kind of long to me to catch on but at least it isn't longer is all I figure. He takes a good nap in the morning and then usually a good one in the afternoon, sometimes those ones are shorter than I would like but at least he takes one routinely. I still need to work on my time management skills with actually getting some things done around the house on a more routine basis, but that is coming and hopeful since he does take a couple naps.

I momentarily stopped going to BSF because of our car situation and I really want Titus to be crawling before I put him in the children's program there. But the car situation is close to being completely worked out and more details will be coming once it is final! Thank you to any of you who have been praying for that situation for us.


Titus is very close to crawling, he will get in the position and either rock back and forth or he will actually take a few strides and then fall to his belly!


He is almost learning two things at once, it is funny to see how it all works because I would have thought sitting up would come first. But they are kind of coming at the same time, he does this all the time now, soon he will realize he can plop himself up and over onto his bottom.


Mealtimes... he loves the spoon and wants to grab it and do it himself all the time. Right now he loves his rice cereal and we are working on sweet potatoes and apples and carrots.

Update on Little Big Man!

Titus is close to 16 weeks now, he is getting very vocal and he is such a good baby. Sure there are moments or days when mom feels like she doesn't get anything done but I am learning to adjust still and trying to work with that as much as I know how at this point. I feel like nothing prepares you for this and at times it is different than how you thought it would be, but by God's grace it is still good and it is worth it. You have the opportunity to make a direct impact for eternity in the life of your children in how you decide to raise them. I love that verse, Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it." That is a promise from the very Word of God that we can claim as His children. Titus is very strong with his neck and holding up his head, it seems he has been from birth and he is about 15 lbs. now! Most everyone that meets him or sees him thinks he looks older than what he is because of his size! I am hoping to hold off introducing any food at all until he is 6 months, therefore eating only breast milk til then. His Pediatrician recommends that because of allergies these days and with the allergy history of some of his cousins I think that would be best for him too.
Well last week mom joined Bible Study Fellowship (BSF), which is an interdenominational, in-depth Bible study that actually meets all over the world! Some of you may remember that I did this about 10 years ago, the first year they taught the book of Romans. Then I started work at the Vet Clinic and I couldn't go anymore because it is on Wednesday mornings here in Missoula for the women. But now I have Titus and they have a great children's program where they teach them the same thing that the parents are studying. And this year is a new study to BSF, they are teaching through Isaiah! And actually since Titus is so young I can keep him with me for nursing and such. I think once he is crawling I will put him in the children's program. If you are interested and are looking for a good Bible Study, just click on the link for BSF down under the websites we enjoy. You can search for one by your zip code and they have a class for men too. Tom is not going yet because he is pretty involved in our church's youth group on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings plus any extra activities they do. But I am loving it and it just started last week and goes through the school year with breaks like for Christmas and such.
I think Tom is happy that NFL season is started back up, we love those Broncos! Titus already has two Broncos outfits, at this point for the future. We also think it is awesome that Tim Tebow is on the team after his awesome Pro-Life testimony last year during the Super Bowl commercials!
We are hoping to drive to CO to spend Thanksgiving with Toms parents and then fly into IL or WI to spend Christmas with my family this year! Pray that we can accomplish those trips, we should be able to get at least one free ticket because we earn travel reward points with both of our debit cards thanks to our great US Bank. I am so excited for Titus to play with his cousins, Gracie and Bella, they have not met him yet and neither have my sisters! And we have not met Bella yet and she is going to be a year old in November! And Titus is only about 5-6 lbs. less than her from what my sister tells me! What a ham! But Tom does have plenty of PTO stored up so that is great.

I love this picture cuz it looks like Titus is sitting in the ball! His development book actually recommended doing this to encourage muscle development, another great use for those exercise balls.

Okay I know those who are close to me know that I love most things that few people like, like anchovies, sushi and yes, sardines! I actually saw this on t.v. and wanted to try it and I had the ingredients for it so why not? A peanut butter and sardine sandwich, and it tasted really good! If anyone likes sardines, I recommend trying it.

One of Tom's great soups, Udon, actually from his time in Japan. I love it cuz the noodles (called Udon noodles) are like the size of earthworms and then he cooks up some good veggies to put in it like carrots, mushrooms and pea pods. And usually he slices up a hard boiled egg and puts that in too, which is an awesome way to enjoy hard boiled eggs.

Titus in his Bumbo chair with his precious bunny.

A view out our living room window! There has been a group of whitetail/mule deer of 7-10 everyday down in the gully outside our window! Some are good size bucks, Jerm you could come out here to hunt!