Date night

You know, I thought getting back into working would be a lot easier than it has been. It’s been over a month and I still don’t think my body has adjusted yet. I am always tired and we go to bed before most 9 year olds do. I don’t understand it. And I hate it. I just want to sleep in every day like I was before. But I get to, no make that have to be a responsible adult and bring home some money so we don’t end up on the streets. Ok, it wasn’t actually that bad. But it is really nice to have some money left over to do some fun things with.

For example, this past weekend, Big John and I dumped the kid off at my brother’s house for a sleep over with my nephews. We went and played bingo on Friday and we both walked out a winner!! Then Saturday morning we got up and traveled around Indiana all day hitting up some wineries. We made it to four different ones. It was so awesome!! To think, these places actually give you tons of wine to sample for free!! I can’t believe we haven’t done this before. And one of them that we went to if you help them pick the grapes, they pay you in wine. Let me say that again. THEY PAY YOU IN WINE. I am quitting my job right now.

We really did have a great time together. It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to do anything like that. Our marriage needed it. Not that things were bad. Because surprisingly, they weren’t. I was so afraid that our money issues would start to cause a problem between us. But I think it actually brought us closer. I think it’s because of all the time we spent together at home as a family. We didn’t have the money to go and do things so we made being at home fun. But that isn’t to say that we didn’t wish that we could have a night out. I think every married couple with kids needs a date night every once in a while. We are going to hopefully make this a regular thing. So what do you and your significant other do on date nights?

I'm Baaaaack!!!!!

I am not dead… I did not fall of the face of the earth… I did not run off and join the circus (although I thought about it a few times.)

So what happened to me, you ask? Well, the only answer I can give is life. Life happened. A job was lost. I became a stay at home mom for 10 months. It was 10 long, short, blissful, frustrating, happy, sad, maddening, humbling months. Eli has changed so much and as a result, so have I. I have so much admiration for women that are stay at home moms now. I did it for only 10 months. Those of you that do it for your child’s entire childhood deserve some recognition. Too many people don’t realize how hard it is to be a mom day in and day out with no break, no time for yourself, and no help. Heck, I couldn’t even pee by myself. But on the plus side of that, Eli now knows how to use toilet paper.

Eli is now 20 months old going on 14. He has an attitude (which Big John says he gets from me. I still am not convinced…). He is a little dare devil. He likes to fling himself off of various pieces of furniture and then laugh when I freak out. He usually has to do things all by himself. But when he gets frustrated with trying to do something, he will let me and everyone in the neighborhood know about it. He is very smart and picks up on things so quickly. Some things we wish he wouldn’t pick up on… But for the most part we are so proud of everything he has learned. I did Mommy School with him almost every day. We would work on a different skill and read lots of books. He loves to read which excites me so much as I am an avid reader also.

He loves to swim. My parents have a pool and he was in it quite a few times this summer. The last time he was in it he was swimming by himself using just arm floaties!! He is going to be a little fish just like his daddy is.

Well, I promise it won’t be so long in between posts from now on. I will post some more recent pictures of Eli soon also.

6 months

Wow lot's of things have happened in the last month! We have been so busy lately! I can't believe that it's almost July. Which also means it's almost my birthday!!! I'm like a little kid about my b-day. I get so excited and giddy as it gets closer! It doesn't help that every year we have a huge bash to celebrate. But that's because my mother-in-law and brother-in-law also share my birthday. Yeah we all have the same birthday! Big John always remembers it though...

Eli has had a big month also. He is six months old now. I can't believe it. It's gone by so fast! He is a little man!



He has two little razors teeth in his mouth. He gnaws on anything he can get in his mouth. And I do mean anything. But he has been pretty good through the whole teething process. He hasn't been too fussy or anything. I would post a picture of his little razors but he hates it when we try to look at them. He will clamp his lips shut and make a really mean face when we try to pry his mouth open to get a good look. So really he could have a whole mouth full of teeth by now and I would never know...

He is about 5 seconds away from crawling. He gets up on all fours and lunges forward and then does it again. He's like a little caterpillar. Last night he almost got his arms into the mix but then he face planted into the carpet. I think he will be crawling by this time next week. And then we get to baby proof our house.

Our town has a little festival every year called Heritage Days. This year we entered Eli in the Little Prince contest. It was for baby boys 4 months to a year old. The categories were prettiest eyes, best smile, most photogenic, and overall cutest baby. Which one do you think he won??



Oh yeah!! He's the overall cutest baby!! He is the Little Prince of Heritage Days!! He got his picture on the front page of the paper and everything. He even got a trophy! He hasn't let it go to his head though. He's only demanded that we bow before him a few times.

Last weekend was a busy one for us. It was Big John's first Father's Day. We celebrated by spending the whole weekend with our family. On Saturday we went to a State Park nearby and went for a picnic. The guys got to do a little fishing and we all had a really nice day. Eli loves anything that involves being outside so he had a great time also. Sunday we spent the day with my family. We went to a car show that my dad loves to go to every year. After that we went to my parents house for dinner and swimming. Eli got to go swimming for the first time. I was kind of worried that he wouldn't like it. I don't know why I was though. He loves his bath and this was just like a really big bathtub. When we put him in and at first he didn't know what to think.


But then he realized that he really liked it! He splashed and kicked and had a great time. He even put his face in the water and looked at me and smiled real big! I have a feeling that he is going to be like a little fish!

Eating

Eli loves to eat. I'm not kidding when I say that we can't shovel the food into his mouth fast enough to satisfy this kid. We have been holding him on our laps to feed him and it wasn't really working very well. He is to squirmy. (Is that a word??) So then we started putting him in his car seat which worked but it made a mess of the seat. So we finally broke down and got him a high chair.



He loves it!! He was a little scared at first but now he loves to sit in it. And just the other day he discovered that he's not alone in the chair. There's a monkey that sits in it with him. He will just sit and stare the monkey down waiting on him to steal some food or something. He talks to him too. I'll try to get some video of the baby/monkey exchange and post it soon...

Big John and I alternate who feeds him so that one of us (me) isn't doing it all the time. So one night I will give Eli supper and Big John does cereal before bed and the next night we switch. Big John hasn't been feeding Eli as long as I have so he hasn't really mastered it yet. If you notice the picture above, we strip Eli down to his diaper to feed him anything not in a bottle. The reason for this is things can get rather messy at times... Especially when daddy is feeding him cereal!



I don't know if you can see it or not but he has cereal up by his eye!! We almost have to give him a bath after daddy feeds him!!!

On another note, I have been going through some pictures and found some that made me almost cry at how big Eli is getting! Here are just a few to let you see how big he has gotten in almost 6 months!!

The year of the Bible

I read a news article that appalled me this morning. It seems that the Georgia Representative Paul Broun has introduced a bill that, if passed, would deem the year 2010 as the Year of the Bible. He says the bill seeks to recognize that the Bible played an integral role in the building of the United States, including providing the basis for our freedom of religion that allows Muslims, Hindus and even atheists to vocalize their own beliefs.

But wouldn't you know said atheists and others are protesting the bill saying that it’s an endorsement of religion by the federal government, and we shouldn’t be doing that.

Ok so here's where I get on my soap box...

If you look at our country today you will see suffering, despair, and sin everywhere you look. I happen to think that maybe if people weren't so afraid to "endorse" religion, our country wouldn't be in the shape that it's in. It hurts me to read the news everyday and to listen to reports of joblessness, homelessness, and the lack of morals that seems to affect everyone.

This is a direct quote from the article on Yahoo. When I read it, I was absolutely devastated.

Atheists, who might feel themselves a particular target with the declaration of a biblical year, aren’t even worried about Broun’s effort.

“Right now, we’re seeing atheism on such a rise,” said David Silverman, vice president and national spokesman of American Atheists, a group dedicated to fighting for the civil rights of atheists.

“We are seeing Christianity on such a dramatic decline that we’re not particularly worried about it. We’re thinking that this kind of old-style George W. Bush Republicanism is about to go away,” Silverman said, referring to the latest Pew Forum survey of American religious life, which showed nonreligious Americans as the fastest-growing group.

That is the saddest statement I have ever heard.

I grew up going to church every Sunday. But once I got to the age that I could decide for myself, I decided that I didn't need church and that I would rather sleep in on Sunday mornings. I did this for quite a few years. I never considered myself an atheist. I always have and always will believe that there is a God in heaven.

A few years ago, Big John and I were struggling with infertility and I was about at rock bottom. I thought about it and decided to try going back to church. In my mind, it couldn't hurt anything. We found a church that we love and look forward to going to each and every Sunday. After a few Sunday's, we decided that we wanted to get serious about this and dedicate ourselves back to the Lord. Almost immediately, my life changed. And so did my outlook on my life and my problems. We have had the most wonderful few years and I don't hesitate to credit it to the fact that we joined our church and gave our lives to God.

I know that there is a lot of turmoil in the world today. I happen to think that maybe this is God's wake up call to us all. Maybe this is His way of saying- Hey I'm still here even if you did forget about me. Stop denying my existence and things won't be so bad. I am not saying that God is vengeful. I think he is just reminding us Christians that we need to stand up and be heard. We, as a society, are so concerned about everyone's civil rights. What about Christians civil rights? Don't we have the right to say a prayer in school? Don't we have a right to have In God We Trust on our money? Don't we have a right to practice our religious beliefs without being looked down on?

I understand that we need to respect everyone's opinions and choices. But don't tell me that I can teach my child to pray and then have to tell him that he can't pray in public. Don't tell me that the phrase one nation under God is offensive. I find your lack of faith offensive. But I don't try to tell you that you have to honor my beliefs.

Think back to the 1950's. Crime wasn't nearly as bad as it is now. Our country was in a lot better shape than it is now. People weren't afraid to let their children walk down the streets. You didn't worry if your child’s teacher, or neighbor, or bus driver, or Scout leader was a child molester. People had morals. People were Christians. People had religion. Our country as a whole had religion. And we weren't afraid to stand up and say so.

I for one am not going to be afraid to stand up for what I believe in. No one is going to tell me that I don't have the right to display my religion. If you don't like it, don't listen, or look, or read. If you don't understand why I do it, ask me and I would be glad to talk to you about it. If you agree, STAND UP WITH ME AND BE PROUD!! Don't be afraid to tell people that you are a Christian and you believe in God. If everyone could do that, maybe Christianity wouldn't be on such a dramatic decline in our country.