a letter to jude

Dear Jude,

Yesterday, kiddo, you turned eleven months old. This is ridiculous. As much as I try to keep you from growing up, you seem intent on doing so. Crazy kid.

You know, as each month goes by, Daddy and I keep saying, "This is our favorite stage. No wait, THIS is our favorite stage. No actually, THIS is our favorite stage." So I say with a grain of salt that this past month has been my favorite. MommyDaddy love seeing your personality - your sweet, independent, hard working, stubborn, cuddly, funny, entertaining personality, and we love watching you as you learn and grow. You're such a blessing to us, sweet Jude, and we're so glad you're a part of our life.

In the past month, you seem to have grown by leaps and bounds, but perhaps my favorite area of growth is your ability to play games by noticing repetition. You and I play a particularly fun game (to you, at least) that involves the lid to your bottle. Notice that it doesn't involve any of the myriad of toys we own - but a bottle lid. You take the lid of the bottle, and holding in laughs, hand it to me. I pretend to take a sip, and say, "Mmmm! That was delicious!" and hand it back to you. You giggle and try to put the bottle lid on the top of my head. I put it on my head, and laughing your little hiney off, you climb up to get it down. Then I put it on top of your head, and you giggle and shake your head to get it down. Then we start all over again. Judeabug, there's nothing else I'd rather be doing than playing that sweet game with you.

You're also starting to recognize people and get excited about seeing friends. You love laughing at silly faces people make at you, and you get a kick out of making people smile at you (especially when we're standing in line and you can make strangers smile). You love to be held, but you also get antsy when you can't get down and explore the world around you.

Speaking of which, you're walking around holding onto our fingers and starting to stand on your own for a few seconds at a time. I seriously can't believe that you're going to be one whole entire year old in four weeks. One year! In four weeks, you'll no longer be drinking formula or using bottles. In four weeks, we'll stop referring to your age in months. In four weeks, Daddy and I are going to celebrate one of the most important days of our lives. In four weeks, you'll be one year old.

So today, Judeabug, when you are eleven months old, I want to make sure you know that we love you very much. We love you more than you could possibly imagine. You are cherished, wanted, adored, and loved. I want you to know that when we tell you, "no," when we don't give you what you want because you're throwing a fit, and when we let you cry sometimes, that we do those things because we love you. We love you so much that we don't want you to get hurt and we want you to have boundaries.

When you get older there will be so many times that you'll be mad at us because we don't let you do or have something. There will be times that you'll think we're purposefully making your life miserable, or that you'll think we're unfair and mean. It's okay for you to be angry at us, but I just want you to know that the reason we don't let you have everything you want and the reason we let you experience the consequences to your actions is because we love you SO very much. You can't do anything to earn our love, Judeabug, and you can't do anything to lose it. We love you because. Because we do.

Love,

Daddy and Mommy

the joy of a straw

Jude loves straws. They thrill his little heart like no other...

He also really likes taking what he enjoys putting in his mouth, and putting it in MY mouth. It's like he's thinking, "If I really like chewing on this, then Mommy will LOVE it!"

And while chewing on a straw isn't necessarily my thang...I'll do just about anything to see that sweet smile.

maybe it's maybelline

(maaaybeee/maybe it was them/or maybe it was me/or maybe it's maybelline/or maybe it's maybelline)

If you know from what song those lyrics are, you get bonus cool points!

If you haven't been reading about the epic love story that IS Shawn and Jen, allow me to recap:

1. Shawn and Jen and are none too impressed with one another.

2. Shawn and Jen started hanging out because we were both RAs and Shawn had a thing for a friend of mine.

3. Shawn and Jen started to look past the sarcasm and goofiness and realize they respected one another.

4. Chris Tomlin intervened and saved a friendship that would've been lost due to lack of convenience.

There, now you're all caught up. With Easter approaching, Shawn and I decided to each challenge our sections with giving up something for lent. Shawn decided to give up music with words for the approximate thirty days, and I decided to give up make up. Being the college girl that I was, make up was a big part of my morning routine, and I felt like giving it up would be quite the sacrifice.

During this "fast" of mine, I visited my - by then very serious boyfriend- Kevin, who was living off campus. Even though Kevin and I had been friends for two years prior to dating, we'd kind of taken turns liking each other. As such, our friendship was one of those that mandated I put on makeup, fix my hair, and make sure I smelled delicious before hanging out with him. He knew what my lent sacrifice was, so when I saw him I asked, "So...what do you think?"

Being without make up - in front of the guy you hope to one day marry - asking him what he thinks - is a pretty vulnerable spot in which to find yourself. His response?

(long pause) "Well...." (another long pause)

"It's okay, you can be honest," I replied (a relationship's last words), "Do you think I look better with makeup?"

I remember this moment exactly. I was standing in his living room, and I was wearing a black, knee-length skirt, and a red turtleneck sweater, an outfit chosen painstakingly just for him. He looked me in the eye, shrugged his shoulder a little bit, and held up his pointer finger and thumb.

"Maybe just a little bit," he responded.

I don't feel like I need to belabor this point, but FYI guys - if you're thinking about marrying the girl you're dating, you know that means waking up every morning next to her, right? You know that means that at some point she's going to stop putting on makeup before bed, or waking up before you to "freshen up," before you see her, right? You might want to kind of like what she looks like without makeup. ...just sayin'.

I brushed it off as no big deal at the time, but I was pretty hurt that my vulnerable and makeup-less face was "just a little bit" not enough.

Meanwhile, Shawn and I were still hanging out and had started to talk fairly regularly on the phone. We talked about everything - things we were studying, doubts, classes, food, and even future plans. I remember telling Shawn that I wanted to wear daisies in my hair on my wedding day, and I remember him telling me that he imagined me to be the kind of girl who wore overalls a lot when I was pregnant. Of course, I never imagined I'd be looking at him with those daisies in my hair, and I'm sure he never imagined it would be his child my overall-ed self would be carrying.

Oh my. Can you handle the irony?

So one evening, Shawn and I chatted on the phone for a particularly long time. One of us ended the conversation with, "Well, we both have to wake up for church in the morning, so I should probably go." After lunch the next day, we saw each other in the library, and after a minute, realized that neither of us had actually made it to church that morning. As we continued to talk, we realized we both planned on going to the same church that evening.

"Why don't we just go together?" Shawn asked, "Meet me at my car at 6:15."

So at 6:15 promptly ('cause that's how I roll), we met to go to church together. Shortly after this, Shawn traded in his SUV for an Alero, a choice he complains about even today. He's all like, "I really miss that SUV. You know, if I still had that car, we wouldn't have a problem with getting all Jude's junk packed when we visit home." And I'm like, "Yeah, but honey, it guzzled gas, remember? That's why you got rid of it." And he's all, "(sigh)You wouldn't understand. You never saw that SUV. Oh man, I loved that SUV." And I'm like, "YES I DID! Remember? We went to Gregoryville together that night you fell in love with me, and you didn't open your car door for me, and I had to climb up like ten feet to get inside, and we showed up late to church, and then you fell in love with me? Remember?" And every time, just like we've never had this conversation before, he responds, "Oh. Yeah, I forgot."

We did indeed show up late - we thought church started at 6:30, but it was apparently 6:00 instead. So we snuck in the back and grabbed a hymnal. We'd been singing for a few minutes, when Shawn whispered, "JP!" (a college nickname)

"Yeess?" I responded, most likely agitated because I hate when people talk during church, the movies, or my favorite television shows.

"You're wearing makeup!" he accused.

"No I'm not," I responded. Then Shawn got a funny look on his face, which I thought was doubt about my honesty, so I whispered, "Well, I am wearing chapstick, but I don't think that counts. It's not like there's any tint or even flavoring to the chapstick. My lips were just dry. No, that doesn't count. At least I don't think it does. It's just chapstick. No way chapstick counts as makeup"

For someone who hates when people talk during church, yes, I was doing a lot of talking.

It turns out Shawn didn't hear my ever so eloquent diatribe on chapstick. Do you want to know why? Listen closely, because this is my favorite part of our entire story. Shawn didn't hear me because he was thinking, "Wow. So she really looks like that without makeup? Wow. She's beautiful."

In all the time that Shawn and I had talked about girls in whom he was interested, he never referred to any of them as beautiful. For whatever reason, that word was sacred to him, and the fact that the word just ran through his mind in reference to JP -his good old buddy JP -most likely caused his brain to internally explode.

Meanwhile I was babbling on about chapstick, completely unaware that yes - my friends - Shawn had finally noticed these sky blue eyes of mine.

a morning with jude

Subtitled: Chasing Jude around for an hour with a camera

Like most kids his age, Jude is all over the place when it comes to playtime and will hardly stay in one spot for for than a minute. I thought it'd be fun to document what he does and where he goes within about a fifty minute time span.

"What? You're going to be following me around with that camera? Fine, if you must."
"Sheesh. Papparazzi."

We have three of these cute little bins that stay under Jude's crib. Since he especially loves pulling things out right now, these are perfect for him to pull out whatever he likes.

But today, he decided he'd rather join his toys.

So into the toy bin he went

"Hey look at me! I'm in my toy bin!"

...and then the toy bin fell over. And because this was just a few hours after the never to be spoken of again incident, I was very careful to cushion his fall.

"Take that, you toy bin!"

A couple of minutes later, Jude scoots out of his room, into the hallway (where our giant dog likes to hang out and protect Jude. And by "protect," I mean bark at imaginary intruders while he's napping).

Apparently this is the magical hat that makes you look exactly like Daddy when you put it on.

Bored by the hats and books, we move into Mommy's and Daddy's room...

Where the guitar is!

Chubby baby fingers pluckin' on some strings makes me so happy...

...And then it's time to visit the baby in the mirror...who is hilarious, by the way.

And a darn good kisser, too.

Then Jude moved too quickly from our bedroom to the living room for me to get a picture, but it was apparantly lion time.

...and apparently Vodka time as well. Just kidding, we'd never give our kid Vodka. We're straight Whiskey folks here.

And then Jude found his first wasp. It's normally Daddy's job to kill the critters, but since it was just the two of us, I did a fine job and got rid of that wasp in one smack! Ironically, this was just a few hours after the pest defense guy came and sprayed. Personally, I think he sprays kool-aid around the edges of our home.

Shawn had put a gate in the entrance of our kitchen because Jude has disovered a passionate love for Coletrane's food and our garbage can. Jude thought it was hilarious when I stepped over the gate. So I kept doing it. Back and forth. Over that gate. Just to see that smile. Totally worth it.

Jude loves his "cruising around the coffee table" time. After I shot this picture, Jude headed straight towards our power cords, and was none too happy when I pulled him away. He threw quite the fit, which meant he was sleepy, so alas - the papparazi took a break.

chris tomlin and maybelline

Pre-dating, pre-married, and pre-Jude Shawn and Jen hanging out at Open Dorms.

Don't know what the heck I'm talking about? Part One. Part Two. Part Three.

So when we last left off, Shawn and I were relatively good friends. I say "relatively" because in large part, we were friends of convenience. Shawn would come over to hang out in the lobby, I'd ask him how his day had been, and we'd inevitably start chatting and just keep chatting. Occasionally we'd go on a walk to continue the conversation, but most of our friendship was based on the fact that we just saw each other a lot.

As Christmas break rolled near, though, the same genius who decided I would be the Head RA of the dorm decided to move me across campus to another dorm. I knew this move came because I was trusted - this was a particularly challenging section - but I was angry. I'd spent a semester investing into the girls in my dorm, and just like that - I was moved. Not only did I feel like I was abandoning my mostly freshman girls, but now I had to start all over again with relationships, AND had to deal with a difficult section. Since I had no choice though, I moved.

Shawn and I didn't talk over Christmas break, but we weren't really that great of friends. I remember wondering if we'd still hang out after I moved across campus, and deciding that we probably really wouldn't - and I was alright with that. A couple of weeks into the new semester, however, I got a phone call.

"Hey, Jen?"

"Yeah? Oh - hey Shawn!"

"Hey, so I was just wondering if you had a few minutes to talk."

"Sure - wanna meet at Lusby?" (yes, that's the real name of our main building. go ahead, everyone snickers the first time they hear it).

This time I had no delusions about Shawn noticing my sky blue eyes, but I was glad to hang out with him again. To be perfectly honest, I don't remember exactly how our conversation went that evening. I DO remember thinking that he was awfully serious and earnest, and was glad that he trusted me enough to share with me.

See, Shawn tends to be an intensely private person. I can't lie - some of the stuff I write on this blog (especially the looooovey stuff) makes him a bit uncomfortable. He doesn't open up to a lot of people and has a thick layer of sarcasm and wit to penetrate in order to really get to know him. I didn't know it at the time, but some of the stuff we talked about on those walks were a BIG deal to Shawn.

So that particular night, Shawn had been at a Chris Tomlin concert. I'm not entirely sure what was going on in his life before, and I don't even entirely understand what happened in his heart during, but he was apparently very affected. God spoke to Shawn and I guess changed his heart. I say words like, "apparently," and "I guess," because I really don't remember what Shawn said in that conversation.

I've since found out that when Shawn got back, his immediate thought was, "I need to share this with Jen." The same Jen with whom he didn't talk at all over break, and the same Jen with whom he hadn't even had a conversation since school started. Yet it was also the same Jen who he'd found genuinely listened and cared about what was going on in his life - and cared enough to call him out when he was being ridiculous.

I didn't know it at the same, but this was a big deal. Thank you, Chris Tomlin. Thank you.

And so once again - that one conversation broke the ice. Whereas Shawn and I had been previously friends of convenience, we now called each other fairly regularly to chat and hang out. He was the one person with whom I could share my struggles with my section, and he never failed to help me see the girls through God's eyes instead of my own. Our conversations would often start with, "Hey, so I was reading in James and read this, and thought about what you're dealing with," and we sat next to one another- worshipping and learning together- at chapel.

Now let me pause here to tell you that in case you're thinking there was any funny business going on - there indeed, was not. Sometimes when Shawn called and wanted to hang out, I'd meet him straight from a work out. Greased out hair, pit stains, and all. Shawn continued to ask me advice about girls in whom he was interested, and I continued to ask him advice about Kevin - who I was dating by that point.

This is the part of our relationship for which I'm most grateful, and I believe God guarded each of our hearts from falling in love before it was His perfect time. I had never let down my guard with a guy the way I did with Shawn, and I daresay he had never trusted and respected a female as much as he did me. Shawn saw me - the real, frizzy hair-ed, goofy me, and he allowed me to see beyond his sarcasm. If I had been interested in Shawn, I no doubt would've ruined it by trying too hard and filtering my words and emotions.

Thankfully, I wasn't out to impress Shawn.

It's 9:00am and Jude just woke up (color me thrilled! and productive!), so my friends, I'm afraid you'll just have to wait to find out what Maybelline has to do with our love story. Sorry for the (not-so-much) cliff hangers. I promise - I'll get through this one day!

and the award

for worst Mom of the year goes to

....JEN Maurer!

Yes folks, that's right! Jen not only had a short fuse for Jude yesterday because he was trying to type on her computer while she had a million thing to do for work, but - on several occasions was heard saying, "ugh! Jude!" as she swooped in to stop him from poking his eye out/eating dog food/standing up on the edge of the toilet, and all sorts of normal 10 month old stuff that absolutely did not warrant her level of frustration.

However, ladies and gentlemen, we here at the WMA (Worst Mom Academy) do recognize those behaviors alone do not qualify one has a truly horrendously awful Mom. No, friends, Jen earned her title by putting her son down to sleep in a crib that had not yet been lowered. That should have been lowered at least a month ago. Yes, folks, Jen's ten month old son fell (or jumped - the fact that she doesn't know which one earns her bonus points) over the side of the crib. Jen heard a bump and then she heard Jude's panicked cry. Upon entering the nursery, Jen discovered Jude on the floor, crying his scared little heart out. Please welcome Jen Maurer as she receives her Worst Mom of the Year Award!

Oh gosh, I'm so dishonored to have been chosen from such a group of truly awful Moms! Well, first of all I would like to thank my two jobs for stressing me out and my sad inability to handle stress in a productive way. I would like to thank my friend from the 6th grade - Tricia Bauman - for doing a cherry bomb on the trampoline one evening that caused me to go flying off the trampoline, straight onto my head. If it hadn't been for Tricia, I would've never experienced a concussion, and wouldn't have known the signs to look for in Jude. Thank you, Tricia - I couldn't have done this without you. Umm...who else? Who else? Oh! I'd like to thank my husband for calming me down when I called him in a panic, and I would like to thank Mike Bennett for rushing over to lower the crib. And finally, of course, I'd like to thank Jude for being the sweetest little daredevil I've ever met, and for smiling a huge grin and lunging towards me as I cried - sure that I'd given you permanent brain damage. (holding up award that is a bronzed figurine of OctoMom) This award will be stuffed in the back of my closet, hopefully to never be seen again, and this incident will never be spoken of again unless the conversation starts with, "My kiddo did that too, and has not suffered any long term brain damage." Thank you, WMA, this has truly been a dishonor.

I should add here that Jude seems to be perfectly fine and none the worse for his attempts at sky diving. He got a little cut on the side of his nose and has some small bruising right above that. The blood scared me, but it seems to be just a tiny cut. Jude's crib is now sufficiently lowered, I'm sufficiently humbled and embarrassed, and Jude has sufficiently stopped being a daredevil not been phased in the least.

Update-itty-dog

Yeah well, you try coming up with a more creative name for a family update.

So while you may pretend to be interested in hearing how Shawn and I met and ultimately fell in love...you may tolerate my musings on southern culture ...and you may even repress groans at my attempts at weight loss, you can't fool me. I happen to know the real reason you visit this blog.

That's right. You actually visit this blog for all the cuteness your monitor can handle.

So this sickness thing seems to be taking its toll on our little family. First Jude and I got it. Then we started to get better. Then Shawn got it. And now it appears that Jude and I have it again. Or we got something new. Either way - it's no fun and produces lots of neediness and whininess. And that's just me.

Other than the occasional snot factory and need for extra snuggles, Jude's doing ridiculously well. We took him to our doctor early last week for his fever (just a nasty cold...nothin' we can do but the occasional Children's Benadryl), and found out that he's still in the 1st percentile. He's 16lbs 12oz. As opposed to earlier freak outs concerns I had, I can see clearly that he's developing just fine and is obviously just a small baby. Still, it was nice to know that he hasn't dropped off the growth chart entirely.

Jude gets closer to walking with each passing day - which is simultaneously exciting and frightening. His favorite game is "PullEverythingOutofEveryDrawerICanFindAndThrowItOnTheFloor." No kidding, if he could talk - that's totally what he'd call it.

His hair has now grown to sensitive indie rock star lengths, which is downright adorable. He hasn't gotten called a girl yet, but I'm just waiting. It's okay though, the pain will fuel his song writing.

Speaking of songs and indie rock star, Jude loves my guitar. He's even figured out how to strum with his cute little chubby fingers, and will work on plucking the strings when the guitar is standing upright. Shawn is thoroughly musical, and I play a little guitar and can sing on pitch when nobody is listening, so we aren't surprised to see Jude already drawn to musical instruments. Still - we're trying to be intentional about letting him explore and love whatever he loves. Even if that means he loves huntin' and fishin'.

And Jude has also figured out how to wave. The first time he did it, he looked at his hand like he couldn't figure out how it was moving on his own, and then held it straight up in the air to show me what it was doing. Of course - he doesn't wave when we're saying "hello" or, "goodbye." From what I can tell, waving means, "Oooh - this food is yummy! Gimmie some more!" in Jude-language.

And that's just fine with me.

a northerner's guide to southern culture

You wouldn't think that moving from Indiana to North Carolina would've been much of a change in culture. After all, in my area of Indiana, schools were closed for the Opening Day of Hunting Season, and the Ford vs. Chevy truck debate was alive and well. In fact, my first ever job was shucking corn in Indiana corn fields for a summer. I'm no stranger to the "country" culture, and so I thought I was prepared for our move to North Carolina over four years ago. Besides, I reasoned, we were moving to Winston-Salem...which was on the northern most part of NC...which was practically Virginia...which was practically Pennsylvania...which was definitely the north. Oh my friends, was I wrong. Was I ever wrong.

It's an entirely different world down here. Let's start with the vernacular, shall we?

Bless 'er heart

You may not realize it, but somewhere there's a verse that goes something like, "If ye do so choose to gossip, ye only need to end your gossipy tidbits with 'bless her heart,' and it will be like ye never gossiped in the first place." I know, they didn't share that part with us northerners in church, but everybody knows southerners are closer to God anyway.

Ya'll

It's pretty obvious, but it's crazy how easily that one slips into your vocabulary.

Showin' Out

I can't lie, I'm still not 100% sure what this means. Southern friends, would you like to comment? It seems to be used most when referring to children, and usually when they're misbehaving. As in, "Shew, we had to leave Target 'cause Jude sure was showin' out."

Wide Open

See, the southerns have a great capacity to say something harsh in a way that makes you want to thank them. It's like pouring sugar on brussel sprouts, and the phrase, "wide open" definitely falls into that category. It's basically a nice way to say, "she's crazy."

Pocketbook

Apparently the word "purse" is a little outdated down here. I've been told that "pocketbook" or "handbag" are how you may correctly refer to whatever you choose to carry your keys in.

Now moving on, let's discuss the food...

Grits

I don't know exactly what they are, but I do know 1)They're gross and 2)It's not an outdated stereotype...people down here really do eat them.

Sweet Tea and Barbecue

These two things get lumped into the "things southerns are abnormally fanatical about" catagory. I could take or leave both these, but I dare not utter that out loud.

Chick Fil A

Oh, Chick Fil A. Me and a #1 on wheat with diet pepsi have kind of a thing going. Just trust me. Oh, sweet Chick Fil A.

Everything is better on a biscuit

This isn't a particular food persay - just a generally held belief system. Grits, gravy, barbecue, chicken, coleslaw, beef...if you want to take your food up a notch...put her on a biscuit!

Okay, so if you come to visit, you are now prepared to speak southern-ese and can adequately navigate your way around a menu. But, you ask, what about the deeper cultural differences? Let's discuss the two that stand out most (to me, at least).

Friendliness and Genuineness

People down here are super friendly - it would not be strange for someone I barely knew to come up to me in the supermarket and say, "Hey! How ya'll doin'? How's that baby of yours? You guys doin' okay?" and it's not an easy task to navigate from Sunday School to the worship center on Sundays with all of the, "how're you?"s and "what's goin' on?"s. I love that when I have family visiting, they are never without someone making conversation with them when we're with friends.

In the north, if you're walking and are passing someone walking in the opposite direction, you stare at the ground until you pass. If you know them, you might venture a curt nod and "hello," but you're just as likely to completely ignore them. If you do that in the south, people will think you're either clinically depressed or just plain rude.

The double edged sword of this friendliness is that - in my experience - southerners can be very difficult to get to know. It's not an easy task to crack through someone's veneer of friendliness and get to who they really are and how they really feel about things.

Jesus is still alright by me (Jesus is still alright, oh yeah)

Oh, excuse me. I thought it was 1992 there for a second.

Having faith - especially Christian faith - is surprisingly acceptable in the south. Northerners tend to have a much stronger separation of "church and state," and the weekly church go-er is the exception, not the rule. Shawn and I are still shocked when we see news coverage of churches or the things people are doing because of their faith. Most of the teachers in the public school system down here are Christians, whereas Christian teachers are a minority in the north.

Again - this has both a good side and a bad side. There are five churches on every corner, and it can sometimes be difficult to ask people to step outside their complacent view of God and church. It's a widely held view that going to church every Sunday makes you a good person, which means you'll get into heaven (regardless of how life is lived outside the church walls)- and truthfully - that's not easy to combat. On the other hand, it's encouraging to know that Jude has a great chance of being taught by Christian teachers, and that he's very likely to have strong Christian influences in almost every arena of his life.

So there you have it - my humble and completely incomplete northerner's guide to the southern culture. So ya'll go grab your grits, put 'em on a biscuit, and drink up that sweet tea. Bless yer ever lovin' heart.

sharing the love

This is a post that I've also put on the Serwa Chic Blog, but I'm so excited to share some of these sites with anyone who cares, that I just couldn't help but put the information here, as well.

Being a work at home Mom (or WAHM) is not an easy task. It's difficult to get your name out there and make sure you're separated from the scammers or just plain lazy. Beginning a business can be time consuming, confusing, and of course - expensive. Most WAHMs rely almost solely on word of mouth...someone ordered from you...loved what they got...and told someone else. After all, we can't compete with big firms who have large budgets for advertising or years of brand recognition.

So I thought I'd share some of my favorite work at home Moms - Mammas who are turning what they love doing into a way to help take care of their family.

MocoCreations - I'm lucky I don't have a little girl, or this Etsy store would do some serious damage to my wallet with those adorable hair bows! As it is, I'm already in love with her earrings and necklaces and actually just ordered a pearl necklace and earring set. And her jewlery makes for great gifts...hint hint.

HandmadeByHollysMom - Check out those carseat covers! In honor of NFL season, I ordered a handmade Steelers cover with our last name stitched across the back. My husband is going to flip with excitement, and hopefully it'll make cleaning up my son's toxic spit ups easier, too!

Mama A La Mode - I especially love her wall words and customized stick families. If we were in the market to re-do our son's nursery, we would definitely be ordering some wall decorations from her. She's super creative and flexible - from what I understand, she can take any image you send her and make it to into a decal for your wall, car, etc.

bellepapillion - This is actually where I got the idea to put snaps on my son's pacifier clips (though I don't see any paci clips in her store at the moment, I'm sure she can whip 'em right up if you shoot her an email), and her embroidery work is awesome! Once again may I state that I would spend significantly more money if we had a girl - this stuff is so cute!

So what about you? Do you have a favorite WAHM site to share? Don't keep it to yourself - tell us about it!

can you handle it?

...the cuteness, that is

swinging

videos!

So I have had the most difficult time uploading videos to blogger lately. It takes seriously half an hour to upload a two minute video...frustrating to say the least. I finally got a couple to load - so enjoy!

Jude and Coletrane - they have a mutual agreement of annoying one another.

This video is actually from today (or well...yesterday, by the time I get to posting this)! Jude was making these cute kissey faces, except he was sucking his lips in instead of pursing them out. He doesn't do it until the video's almost halfway over, but hang in there...it's cute.

Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship

If you've missed the first two installments of our love story, feel free to catch up with Part One and Part Two. If you have no desire to go back and read previous posts (and I can't blame you if that's the case), let me summarize.

1. I'm stubborn and think I know best for my life.
1a. My first impressions of Shawn included truly profound and insightful thoughts about his height and his hair.

2. Shawn had the hots for a girl.
2a. This girl was not me.

The phrase, "has the hots for," is really an underused phrase, by the way. Right along with, "totally tubular," and "okey dokey artichoke-ey."

So strangely enough, that misguided walk around campus kind of broke the ice for Shawn and I. We began casually talking about life when he came over to hang out in the lobby, we started sitting next to each other during chapel, and that walk was the first of many around our small campus. I wish I could remember what we talked about when we hung out - I'm sure it'd be funny to reminisce about, but alas - I have only a smattering of memories.

I remember sitting on a bench and Shawn playing a song on his guitar. Now - if you're from my particular small college (or attended a similar one), you're rolling your eyes right now. The image of a guy, sitting next to a girl, with a guitar, playing either

1)Dashboard Confessional or
2)Any worship songs that probably consist only of the cords D and G

is an image that is cliche in this world. Because usually that guy is trying to woo a girl, not realizing how ridiculous he looks. In this case, however, Shawn was not trying to woo me, so Dashboard and everyworshipsongunderthesun were not what he chose for me that particular evening. Instead...he played, "Hey Mickey." I vaguely remember him showing me that it was the same cord progression as another song, but laughing at Shawn as he rolled his eyes and said (said...not sang) in a deadpan voice, "Oh. Mickey. What a pity. You don't understand."

We talked about homework, we chatted about school stuff, and we discussed our lives. But there are two things that I remember talking about the most with Shawn. 1.) God and 2)The opposite gender. And not necessarily in that order.

Boy, I'm all about listing stuff today, huh?

See, like a lot of college students, Shawn and I were both working out what we believed...in whom we believed, and even sometimes IF we believed. We inadvertedly found in one another a sounding board for hidden doubts and unspoken uncertainties. I didn't know it at the time, but we were laying a foundation for a marriage that was centered in our identities as children of God and our ability to challenge the other to knowing Him better and more intimately.

And we just thought we were chatting. Sheesh.

Now as to number two in my list of stuff we talked most about. You might think that what with all of this talking and walking and singing we were doing that one of us started to develop a crush on the other. You might think that Shawn would've come around to noticing my sky blue eyes, or that I might have picked up on how charming his smile is, and you might think that one of harbored secret feelings towards the other

...and you would be wrong.

Sure, I thought Shawn was a keen fella (...another underused phrase), and I'm sure he'd say he thought I was a swell gal. In fact, as we got to know one another better, our respect for the other only grew...and grew. I remember thinking that I would love to date a guy like Shawn - I just wasn't interested in dating Shawn. And Shawn tried to hook me up with at least two of his friends - so apparently he found me somewhat interesting and attractive - but not for himself.

I really couldn't have given two hoots what Shawn thought about me physically. Most of the time when he was hanging out in our lobby, I was in old pjs and a hoodie. I didn't care if I had makeup on, I didn't care if my hair looked right, I didn't really even care if my breath was funky. But man - I cared a lot about what Shawn thought of my character. I respected him. And so I respected what he thought of me.

Because of this interesting dynamic to our friendship - we naturally began to ask the others' opinions and thoughts on our romantic interests. I was very interested in a good friend of mine, and found myself asking Shawn why the guy did this, said this, acted like this, didn't say this...and how I could best show the guy that I was interested. Eventually this guy (we'll call him Kevin) and I started dating, and Shawn continued to be my one stop source for understanding the male mind.

Shawn on the other hand, was interested in several girls during the course of our friendship, and never failed to ask my honest opinion of them. And boy, was I honest. My opinions ranged from, "Well, I'm not sure that she'd really get your sense of humor," to, "Seriously? She just emailed you a picture of herself from the shoulders up in a strapless shirt. Do you realize she's trying to make you think about her naked?" I knew that Shawn didn't see in himself what I saw in him, and I knew he had no idea how manipulative complex females could be.

We were friends. Good friends. Good friends who respected and trusted the other. I wanted Shawn to find a woman who was sweet, wise, beautiful, and a great complement to him, and I wanted to be the very happy girlfriend and maybe even future wife of Kevin.

But then something changed. And for the record: I blame Chris Tomlin and Maybelline.

the sickies and other stuff

It looks like Jude and I both have the sickies. He's been running and on again - off again fever for a few days and is coughing pathetically, and I'm a little achy and have a sore throat like nobody's business. We took Jude to the Doctor yesterday because - quite frankly - I'm a little paranoid about this whole swine flu thing.

And can I just say that I'm refusing to call it H1N1? Apparently several months back, people were thinking that swine flu was contracted by eating pork, and the pork industry was seeing a decrease in sales. So the media decided to call it H1N1 so as not to confuse us. This leads me to conclude two things:

1. Americans are stupid. All you had to do was watch the news for two minutes to see that the swine flu was not contracted by eating pork. Pick up a paper, people!

2. The media is also stupid, and I'm a little obnoxious about being told what to do. Seriously. When the news anchor on our local channel says, "don't change the channel, we'll be back after the break," my usual response is, "You don't change the channel. Don't tell me what to do," with a very indiginant presssing of the channel button. That'll show him, huh?

So, because I feel like the media is telling me to call it H1N1, I'm continuing to call it Swine Flu. Fight the man, friends, fight the man.

So Jude and I are sick, and poor Shawn is left trying to care for two pathetic sickies (and will most likely end up sick himself), and we're just trying to putter through this week as best as we can. Oh, and it looks like Jude does not, in fact, have swine flu - just a bad cold that will likely develop into an ear infection.

Jude's begun standing up by himself every once in awhile! The first time he did it, he and I were in his bedroom, playing on the floor. I was reading him a book, and he was completely ignoring me and playing with his blocks. He crawled over to my knee, pulled himself to standing, let go of my knee, and stood for a good four seconds before he fell down to his cute cloth diapered butt. Of course I gasped, and squealed, "Jude! Do you know what a big deal that is?!" He acted all nonchalant and wrinkled his brow like, "Seriously, Mommy. If you keep reacting like that, I'm just gonna stop reaching milestones, alright?"

And Jude has also begun dancing, but only when he's sitting down. If you give him a musical toy when he's sitting, he starts rocking back and forth and grinnin' like it's the best thing ever. And you know what? It is.

Just because I'm so excited, I feel the need to share with you this:

You see, Jude has some pudgy feet. It's one of the first things the nurses commented on after he was born, and getting shoes to fit those feet is not easy...or cheap. I've basically been keeping him barefoot or in socks most of the time, but I've known the day is coming when he'll be walking and will need some kind of foot apparel for those Flinstone feet (Shawn's words...not mine!). Shawn and I have checked out a few stores, but it is seriously expensive to buy baby shoes - especially in sizes large enough for Jude to wear.

Which would be why I was so excited to receive that in the mail. A ton of shoes from Jude's cousin, Noah! Thank you, Noah, for sharing your super adorable shoes with Jude! Everyone comments on how cute they are, and Uncle Shawn and Aunt Jen are thrilled to not have to spend so much money on Jude's footwear!

And finally, I'd just like to share a pacifier clip I made for Jude. The colors chosen for this clip may or may not have something to do with Shawn's NFL loyalties.

So here's hoping your family is making it through this season of everyone being sick a little better than ours!

waking up in vegas

Let me just get this out of the way - this isn't the latest installment of our love story. I have never woken up in Vegas...or gone to sleep in Vegas...or even been to Vegas.

Most of the time when I'm driving, I'm either 1)On the phone with my Mom (I know...I know...I'm getting one of those little ear devices so it's more safe) 2) Listening to my iPod, or 3)Listening to NPR (nerd alert!).

But last night, on my way home from church, I decided I wanted to hear something different. So I started station hopping - looking for something fun with which I could sing along. I found our local top forty hits station, and figured that was just about the right place for such a fun, sing along-able song.

Then I heard a song that made my face contort like I'd just smelled a skunk. Some of these profound and insightful lyrics include,

You gotta help me out, it's all a blur last night. We need a taxi, 'cause you're hung over and I'm broke. I lost my fake ID, but you lost the motel key. Spare me your freakin dirty looks, now don't blame me. You wanna cash out, and get the he** outta town. Don't be a baby, remember what you told me.

Shut up and put your money where your mouth is. That's what you get for waking up in Vegas. Get up and shake the glitter off your clothes now, that's what you get for waking up in Vegas.

Wow. Seriously?

I'm fairly certain I got gonorrhea just from listening to that.