Thursday, January 28, 2010

cutie mcbooty

Don't believe me? Check out his cuteness in video form...if you think you can handle it.

He had put a dish towel on his head and walking around the house. Of course as soon as I started videoing, he stopped. But still - that little walk is adorable.



This is one of my favorite videos of Jude ever (despite the crazy hair), and I could watch it 500 times and still not be bored of it. It's possible that's just cause I'm his Mom, but I like to think it's because he really is just the most adorable kid in the world.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

i'm on the list

I've decided to tackle one room of our house a week to deep clean and organize. Last week was our master bathroom - and oh, how wonderful it is for that room to be sparkling clean and organized! This week is our master bedroom, which needs more organizing than deep cleaning. I decided to start yesterday with under our bed - which holds all manner of junk. With Jude intently watching, I pulled everything out and started the sorting.

One of the items I pulled out was a bottle of (probably expired) "Off Skintastic." Why would we need Off under our bed, you ask? And I would pretend I didn't hear your question, because I can't imagine why that would be under there, either. Jude was very interested in the bottle, and carried it around with him for the next forty-five minutes. He handed it to me, took it back, threw it on the ground, and pointed to the letters on the front. Harmless, right?

Yeah, until I look over and see that he managed to pop the lid off and had some suspicious white stuff around the corners of his mouth. I rushed to him, took away the bottle of poison, and smelled his breath. Yep. His breath smelled like summer camp, which meant he'd managed to eat some. I quickly scanned the back of the bottle, hoping to read something like, "harmless if ingested. actually, Off has many vitamins and minerals which are good for your child. let them eat the whole bottle."

Alas, I read something along the lines of, "YOU'RE A TERRIBLE PARENT! CALL POISON CONTROL NOW OR YOUR CHILD WILL FOREVER LOATHE YOU!" It really just said something about being harmful if swallowed, and to call poison control, but it may as well have said the former. Hands shaking, I called poison control (we have an emergency page on our fridge with instructions for baby Heimlich, infant CPR, and numbers for several emergency places), and explained my situation. I told the operator that Jude weighed between 20-25 lbs and while I didn't see how much he'd eaten (even WORSE!), I didn't think it was more than a teaspoon. The operator patched me to a nurse, who asked further questions.

The nurse said that since Jude wasn't gagging or vomiting, he didn't ingest enough of it to be dangerous. Phew.

And then...

she asked for Jude's first and last name, my first and last name, and our city and zip code. She was very friendly and nice, but I could just picture her taking a big, fat, red marker and writing my name on a list titled, "Extremely Bad Parents of North Carolina" with a little note next to my name that said, "keep an eye on this one."

About an hour later, I laid Jude down for his first nap of the day and began sewing. He typically naps for about an hour, so I took note when - an hour and a half later - he hadn't woken up. "Woo-ee!" I thought, and happily sewed the crap out of those soaker pads (not literally. i should probably be careful of the colorful language i use when discussing cloth diapers, huh?). Fifteen minutes later, when he was still sleeping, the thought struck me.

Oh gosh. What if he stopped breathing? What if he needs me? What if I've poisoned him?

Of course, I immediately freaked out, stood up, and started towards Jude's room to check on him. And then I heard a sound that usually makes me groan - Jude's just-woke-up-and-the-world-will-surely-end-if-you-don't-come-get-me-right-NOW cry. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, genuinely grateful that he was okay.

So the moral of the story? Don't think your kid won't be able to get the cap off. He's probably a genius and will figure it out and you're name will be put on

...dun dun dun...

The List
.

Monday, January 25, 2010

happy monday!

...yeah, that's just about how I feel about Mondays, too.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

old school sunday


Shawn and I hanging out at a Greensboro Grasshoppers game (minor league baseball) in the summer of '07.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

we may drink them...

but it's not really appropriate to eat them.

Friday, January 22, 2010

pj pants on yo head!

Remember me telling you that Jude had fun walking around the house with pajama pants on his head? When I tried to video it, the pants apparently got caught make him none to happy. You might want to turn your volume down a slice before watching this - his screech may hurt your eardrums.

...And one of Jude's favorite pastimes is opening drawers and emptying them. Hence the open drawer behind him with an assortment of bowls scattered around it.






With Jude, I very rarely had cravings. I can think of only one or two times in the entire nine months that I just HAD to have something. Perhaps my willpower is weaker, perhaps I'm more susceptible to suggestion, or perhaps this is just a different pregnancy, but I'm finding that I crave something (usually something different) once or twice a week. Well, three or four weeks ago the craving hit, and it was a doosey. Sauerkraut.

I've actually always enjoyed sauerkraut, and Shawn wants to gag at the smell of it. Being the amazing husband that he is, however, he acquiesced one evening and we had polish sausage and sauerkraut for dinner. I mean - I'm only growing a human being inside my body...the least a girl can get is a little sauerkraut.

Ahem. Anyway. I was SO excited about that dang sauerkraut and kept exclaiming about how yummy it was that Shawn felt it necessary to document that excitement. Please ignore my very tired looking face - I was, in fact, very tired.


And just for kicks, here's a sweet (albeit snotty) Judeabug crawling around in his long sleeve bib.

Happy Weekend!!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

a bit of this 'n that

The blog title is much more heartwarming if you say it in an English accent. Try it, "uh bii uh this en thaaat." What's ironic is that I actually spent a semester in England on a mission trip in college, AND a week in a different part of England on a mission trip with Shawn, and my English accent is abysmal. Shawn says I sound like an old Englishman stumbling out of a pub at 2:00 am in the morning. That's probably because I scrunch my face up all weird-like and say, "ello! Ow ah youuu? Aw blimey,"... and that's about the extent of my accent.

Anyway. I just thought I should update friends and family on the general goings ons of the Maurer home. To make things easier for us all, I'll break it down by family member:

Shawn: Is very busy and very handsome. Lots of crazy cool things are happening at our church, much of which Shawn is smack in the middle. He's working super long hours and has tons on his mind, but is doing an amazing job of balancing work and home. If we could afford it, I would totally whisk Shawn away on a Jude-less vacation to Seattle sometime before this baby is born, but I think he'll just have to settle for me doing my best to make our home a peaceful respite for him. He's still the best Daddy in the entire world, and Jude is madly in love with him. Seriously - Jude's face lights up at even the mention of his name.

Jen: Is also very busy, but happily so. After a lull throughout the holidays, things with Serwa Chic are picking up tremendously (yay!), so my sewing machine and I are BFFs right now. Things with Worth the Wait are also picking up in the next month, so I'm just trying to be very wise with my time in order to accomplish everything and not go insane. I was starting to feel a lot better (pregnancy-wise), but recently caught a cold that seems to have set me back. I caught it from Jude, though, and he seemed to get over it pretty quickly so I'm hoping it's a quick one for me, too. I'm excited to report that I've only gained 2 pounds so far this pregnancy, which my nutritionist says is right on target for me!

Jude: Is much more fun to be around now that he's getting over this cold. We're loving watching his little personality develop, and thus far it's sweet, cuddly, stubborn, hard working, and comedic. He's taken to putting things over his head and singing, "Da da da da," as he walks around the house. Yesterday, he put a pair of Shawn's pajama pants over his head so that the waistband was around his head, and the two pajama legs were hanging down over his shoulders. My stomach hurt from laughing, and the more I laughed the more emphatic his "Da Das" were.

This is a video from before Christmas that I've tried to upload several times, but have failed. It finally worked! So enjoy Jude laughing at those hilarious peas:




Baby Maurer: Seems to be doing just great. The little one is about the size of a plum now, and I'm getting the tell-tale baby bump. The kiddo is starting to develop the sense of "feel," and I guess most babies at this age start exploring with touching their faces and mouths. Our next appointment is February 8th, and our ultrasound appointment is March 8th.

So there you have it - not very interesting, I'm sure, but I didn't want our family to think we'd dropped off the face of the planet. We're here, we're happy, and we're all doing just great!

Monday, January 18, 2010

i'm pretty new to the whole potty training thing

...but I don't think this is how it works...

We decided to go ahead and set up the potty chair next to the toilet in the bathroom. We certainly don't expect Jude to know what to do with it or how it works, but I thought I'd have it ready for when he's ready. So far, he thoroughly enjoys seeing how many toys he can fit in the basin - which sounds just about right.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

sweet boy

Sorry about his mad scientist hair in this video - some days it has a mind of its own:


Tuesday, January 12, 2010

coffee and sunrises

Confused already? Check out I Never Wanted to be a Minister's Wife, Walks Around Campus, Lois, I Think This is the Beginning, and finally, Maybe It's Maybelline.

It was pitch black, and I was exhausted - but I couldn't stop my heart from sounding like it was playing a drum solo. I walked quickly up the hill, behind the cafeteria, and around the side to Snodgrass building (yeah, that's the real name). I would've claimed that my speed was to keep my body warm in the hour before the sun came up, but had you seen me carefully slow down to catch my breath and smooth down my hair before I rounded the corner, you would've known otherwise. His back was to me, but when he heard my footsteps he quickly turned around and smiled. That smile - oh, that smile. I didn't know it at the time, but that smile would see me through some of my highest highs and my lowest lows. Seven years later from that day, that smile has the capacity to make my heart play quite the funky rhythm.

Once the spell of his smile cleared, I heard him say, "I made you some coffee," and hand me a tumbler. So we started on our journey together, walking side by side, coffee in hand. We walked up a steep hill amidst a graveyard, through a handful of trees, to our destination. From that spot we could overlook the highway and had a perfect, uncluttered view of the impending sunrise. I took a sip of the coffee, so thoughtfully brewed at the crack of dawn, and immediately realized that this man does not joke around about his coffee! The brew was so strong, it was like drinking liquid cocaine, and I choked my sip down with a grimace. Thankfully, it didn't take him too long after that to realize that I like a bit of coffee with my cream and sugar.

He sat down next to me, and it was either the liquid cocaine I'd just sipped or the fact that our shoulders were suddenly touching, but I found myself unable to do the simple act of taking in a breath of air. We chatted for a bit - talking about the day ahead of us, about our classes, making each other smile, and pretending we weren't both nervous enough to pee our pants. And then he turned to face me, and took a deep breath. "Jen," he said with a quiet seriousness I'd never heard from him. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

Five words. Underneath those five words were five thousand other words, giving it a meaning beyond the simple question that it was.

Even though only about two months had passed since Shawn noticed my sky blue eyes, our lives had been caught up in a crazy weird tornado. Just days after we sat next to each other in that church service, I realized the depth of my respect for Shawn. I realized that he was everything I wanted my current boyfriend to be - a leader, a man of gentle strength, a man of integrity, and most importantly - my best friend.

The fact that we suddenly had feelings for one another came as an equal shock to both of us, and truthfully, we kind of freaked out. I gently told Shawn that I needed some space from him to sort through my head and my heart, and he respectfully complied. In that time, my heart realized that my feelings weren't going away, and my head realized that- though flawed and imperfect - for me, Shawn was perfect. We balanced and supported each other well, and I knew I could trust him with my heart, my dreams, my fears, and my life. We had both been in recent relationships that we felt sure were "It." We'd both felt the heartache of being wrong and realizing we'd invested ourselves into someone we would never see again. We realized we had a rare friendship, and neither of us felt like running the risk of ruining a perfectly great friendship unless we could enjoy that friendship forever - for better or for worse.

On top of our hesitancy to give our hearts away again unless we were sure of a future, there was the little problem that we'd both committed to ministering somewhere other than the college we attended. Shawn had just committed to a 14 month student ministry internship at a church in North Carolina, and I had been preparing to take a semester long mission trip to England. We found ourselves weighing the reality of a (very) long-distance relationship, and wondering if we could make it. Was it worth it? What if he, or I, or both of us found someone else while we were away? What if we had nothing in common after not living on the same campus?

In my usual list-making, OCD, entirely too planned way, I made a pro/con list. That's right. I based my entire future on a pro/con list. To be honest, there were more things listed in the "con" category, but none of those things could outweigh one of my "pros."

"He's Shawn." He's strong, he's committed, he's faithful, he's sweet, he's forgiving, he's hard working, and he's sarcastic. He's Shawn. He's worth it.

So the question, "Will you be my girlfriend?" was much more than him asking me to go on dates with him, listen to his problems, and keep him company occasionally. He was asking me to spend the next two years away from him - loving him, committed to him, faithful to him, investing in him, supporting him, praying for him, advising him, and then....marrying him and continuing the same. Knowing (but at the same time not having a clue) that we were preparing to attempt the near impossible, I answered a simple, "Yes."

And we stood up, walked back through the trees, and started down the hill. One hand clinging tightly to each other's, and the other holding our coffee, we began our journey. Side by side, a little scared, a lot in love...and together.

Monday, January 11, 2010

there's a human being in my stomach

That's exactly what was going on in my mind as the jelly covered monitor was pressing into my belly. It took the doctor a few seconds to pick up the heartbeat, but once she did Shawn and I could both hear it loudly and clearly.

"Holy moly," I thought. "I'm pregnant. And there's a human being with a beating heart in my stomach. Right this minute."

Maybe because this baby was a surprise, or maybe because we weren't in every week from 6-10 weeks along for spotting, but this pregnancy is kind of taking awhile to sink in. I mean - I'm sick, I'm all poochy (as in my stomach), I'm looking at diaper bags and double strollers online...it's not like I'm denying I'm pregnant.

But hearing that heartbeat made this pregnancy real in a way that nothing else could. Our baby already has fingers and toes. Fingers and toes!

And holy cow, I only have two more weeks until I'm done with the first trimester. I don't know if you realize this, but after the first trimester comes the second, after which comes the third. After THAT...comes the baby. Are we even remotely ready for this?! As with my pregnancy with Jude, I'm finding that I need to just calm down, take deep breaths, and take life one. day. at. a time.

So for today, ladies and gentlemen, there is a human being in my stomach.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

old school sunday

Since I'd been posting recently (recently meaning several months ago) about how Shawn and I met, became friends, and fell in love, I thought I'd share a couple of old school sunday pictures from those days.

Both of these pictures were taken before Shawn and I started dating - when we were only starting to get to know each other as good friends.

In our dorm lobby, getting ready for dorm devos. That was the last time my hair was straight - when I grew it back out a few months later, it came back curly! I wish I had pictures of Shawn at this stage in our friendship - I'm relatively certain his hair was longer than mine.

These were a few of the girls in our dorm that semester. Per their request, we duct taped/spray painted our pants and shirts.

I've actually been thinking that I really should continue to blog about Our Love Story (because it's so incredible that it does, indeed, deserve Capital Letters). I left it off with Shawn finally noticing me, but for all you guys know - that was it! I mean, did we date? Did he propose? Did we have the cutest baby in the world together?!

It was unfair of me to leave you hanging like that, so my commitment to you is that I'll continue Our Love Story soon!

Friday, January 8, 2010

videos!

I'm finally able to upload videos - hooray! The first one was taken within the last week with my brand new camera, and the second was taken a few weeks ago with the old 'clicky' one. Enjoy the cuteness that is our Judeabug!




Wednesday, January 6, 2010

sorry 'bout that

Wow, a whopping three days between posts! What have you people done without that Jude goodness in your lives?! Oh...you didn't notice? My bad.

Shawn and I are back at it and hitting the ground running with work, so truthfully, I've just been busy. I introduced a new product at Serwa Chic that has just taken off like gangbusters, so most of my free time right now has been spent cutting, sewing, packaging, and repeating. Trust me, I'm thrilled about this, it just means less time for other stuff. So beyond all that work stuff, what's going on in the Maurer house?

Jude and I seem to have finally gotten over our long string of colds, so we're both back to our jolly, sweet selves. He's getting really good at understanding questions and commands, which is amazing to see. For instance, we can say, "Jude, do you want to take a nap?" and he'll start walking back to his room for a nap. He's also starting to understand more complicated games. My favorite is the "Growly Monster" game. I lay down on the floor and pretend to be sleeping (snoring loudly, as any good pretend sleeper would). Jude runs over to me growling, and pounces on me. I screech, "Oh no! The Growly Monster's got me! The only way to escape is to...kiss him to death!" I kiss him a whole lot and lay him down on the other side of the room, and say, "Phew, that was a close one. Now that the Growly Monster is defeated, I can take a nap," and the game starts all over again.

Wait, should I be embarrassed by this?

Little Baby No-Name Maurer seems to be doing just fine in there. We have an appointment on Monday to hear the heartbeat, but I feel confident that everything is okay. I'm still gagging, my jeans aren't fitting right, I'm up at least twice at night to pee, and am ready for bed by 9:30. So...the baby seems to be right on schedule with the wreaking havoc on my body. Apparently this week the baby's iris' can function and its little ears have been formed. Oh, and with the kidney function he/she has gained this week, it can now pee. Yummy, huh?

Shawn got me a new camera for my birthday (have I mentioned how amazing he is?) and this one doesn't click when it takes videos! I have a couple to share, but couldn't upload them today. I'll try again, I promise!

Sunday, January 3, 2010

old school sunday

I know what you're thinking. "Shawn is so lucky to be married to that fine specimen of a woman."


I know, I know. Sometimes I'm amazed by how photogenic I really am.

(Picture taken at a Jr. High conference after staying up all night. That would be coffee in my hand that I had not yet had a sip of. The fact that my eyes are even partially opened is pretty amazing.)

Friday, January 1, 2010

a heavy heart

Patrice blogged about an EB baby (Leah) she knew who passed away yesterday. I don't know Leah and wasn't following her story, but I find myself heartbroken by all that her parents went through and all that she faced in her sweet life. My heart also breaks for Patrice, knowing how discouraged she must be. It's easy to feel a sense of relief that Jonah's almost a year old and feel like, "shew...he made it through that and will be just fine!" Instead, the reality is that he needs our prayers.