outings and weekend plans

Yesterday was a very fun day!! Lily and I went walking at Peaks View Park with Alicia/Andi and Karen/Ella. Karen is Matt's old boss and her little girl, Ella, is 4 months old. We had a really good time and it was such great weather!! The only problem was... none of us thought about the fact until we got there that our little girls would need sunscreen! With it warming up and the sun out, they definitely need it now. So we improvised to somehow cover up their skin while we were walking. Today we went out with Alicia and Andi to Target so I got some baby sunscreen for her. I also scored a really good deal on jeans for Lily for the winter - 3 bucks a pair on clearance! Very proud of my find today.

Matt has an interview this weekend for a youth pastor position in Graham, NC. It is just outside of Burlington. Graham is a small town, but from what I gather Burlington is similar to the size of Lynchburg so that wouldn't be too bad. And Raleigh/Durham and Greensboro are both close too. It's a Baptist church... so we're just gonna have to see how we like it on Sunday. We were really scarred by the whole experience at Big Island Baptist for several reasons so we are now very hesitant about small town baptist churches. But if it's where God wants us, he'll get us there. So we are praying that God would make it clear whether this is for us or not.

We are driving down Saturday morning and coming back after lunch on Sunday. The church is putting us up in a hotel. So this will be our first attempt at staying in a one room hotel with Lily. Guess we'll see how that goes! She goes to bed at 7 so unless we want to go to bed then too (HA!), we'll have to improvise. I have several options in mind, we'll just have to see what works best once we get there.

Lily is really progressing in being able to sit up. She can sit now in a tripod (supported by her hands) for little bits at a time. This morning she probably sat for at least a minute!

and a hush fell over the house

No, I haven't fallen off the deep end! It has been a busy few days with family in town so I haven't gotten a chance to write. Lily's dedication went great and she did SO good even though she was tired! Both sets of grandparents were able to be there. I have definitely decided that I am glad we don't normally have to host both sides of the family at the same time. It's hard to "evenly" distribute Lily time, especially with so many people wanting time with her. We ended up just trying to leave her in "neutral" zone with me and Matt for more of the time. It went pretty well though all things considered.

It was great having my parents visit and of course get a few things done since they can watch Lily. We had lots of good meals too! Tonight is back to normal though and that has been nice. I enjoy our little family and how our household runs. I could spend a whole blog on that topic since I have been thinking about how much I love our little family and how we do things. It's so great being in our family - you should be jealous. :) My husband says sometimes how much he loves coming home to me and Lily. He said that tonight cause we met him outside when he got home and Lily had a BUNCH of smiles and giggles for him. Apparently he had rough day at work and when he got out of the car and saw us it melted it away. Yeah! I'm so glad that he loves our family just as much!

Lily has tried a bunch of fun new things this month - funky hair do's, first pigtail, wearing her first spring dress, sitting up on her own supported by her hands, tasting her first rice cereal, and jumping (or rather bobbling) in her jumperoo that Aunt Dawn let her borrow. She is getting REALLY active now and can't stay still! When laying on her floor gym, she gets herself turned all the way around in a circle. She also has learned how to squeal... VERY loudly. I love it though even though it is rather ear piercing! :) Tonight she got the "b" sound out for the first time. Yep, she's my big girl!

I have more to write... but want to get off and spend time with the hubby now so I will post more tomorrow!!

the runs and a busy weekend

Yesterday I had the "runs." Isn't that exciting? I know for some of you that might be too much information, but this is my blog so I can write about whatever I want to! I don't think I was sick, but I did feel blah all day. The night before we had Papa John's pizza (with garlic sauce) and garlic and parmesean breadsticks. So needless to say, I ate a lot of garlic/butter sauce. I think it just didn't sit well with my stomach. Writing about it now makes me feel sick! I'm feeling much better today though.

I also noticed yesterday that it looked like Lily had a stye on her eyelid. I didn't think these were contagious but it's kind of odd that I had one last week as well. So I attempted to put a warm washcloth on it yesterday to help draw the pus out as best I could with a 4.5 month old! It must have popped last night cause this morning the white pus is gone and it looks a lot better.

On to our busy weekend.... Today my parents will be arriving in to town from my sister's house. Then later this evening Matt's parents will be here as well with Aaron (our nephew). They're both staying at a hotel tonight since we obviously can't put up both sides of the family. The reason for them both coming is that we are having Lily dedicated at our church here in Lynchburg. Yeah!! Hopefully she will do a little better this time then she did the last! It sucks though that it has been colder temperatures for both of her dedications since she has such a cute little white dress for it. Then Matt's parents will be leaving Sunday and my parents are coming to stay here for an extra day or two. I'm hoping I can get a substitute teaching job on Monday or Tuesday to help bring in a little extra money while my parents are here to watch Lily.

Well, I think that's all that has been going on in my little world the past few days!

tattoo

I'm thinking about getting a tattoo. I have never been a "tattoo" kind of person and in most cases don't really like it. But I think I really would like to have my children's names tattooed somewhere SMALL on me. I have started looking at examples and exploring the topic. There are several things I am not sure about. 1) Where to get it. I know that I don't want it on my back and I want it somewhere not very conspicuous. My initial thoughts are shoulder, chest/breast over my heart, or ankle. I'm open to any other suggestions though! 2) When to get it. I really want to get it after each child is born but I also want them all to look the same. So I'm not sure whether I should wait until all of them are born or not. 3) Design/font. I definitely want the first name and probably in a cursive font. I definitly want it to be smaller so that's why I don't think I will do middle name or birth date - but it's still in the realm of possibility. I had also thought about getting a LITTLE picture of a lily (flower) next to her name. But then if our other children don't have a picture that will go with their name then that would kind of be dumb. So anyways, that's my big new revelation. :) You can like it or not - haha. So comment and leave me ideas/suggestions, etc. I want to be absolutely POSITIVE about what I want before I get it - obviously because it is permanent.

Oh and since I want to do the kid's names, I thought well that's not equally fair to Matt - cause I love him just as much and plan to be with him until death. So then there's the question of... well do I put his with where the kids names will be, or do I do something seperate somewhere else? As you can tell, lots of questions!

Off to enjoy a BEAUTIFUL afternoon. Lily and I are going to go walking with Alicia and Andi in Wyndhurst this afternoon. Yeah!! LOVE this weather!! Then tonight is a new episode of The Office after a long hiatus. What a wonderful day!!

babysitting

This morning was a first. I babysat another child while having my own baby to take care of! Tina (a friend from church) asked me to watch her little girl, Brenae, who is a year and a half old this morning. I have decided that although it wasn't too hard since Matt was around for part of the morning and Brenae was pretty self sufficient (no feeding, napping, etc. while she was here), that I do not want to have a second child yet. :) It was hard because I'm use to devoting 100% of my attention to Lily. It made me think about how when we do decide to have another child, I won't be able to give one child my entire attention. I guess that's just how it works though. Brenae was great though - she's a little cutie. In regards to a second child, I think I would like Lily to be at least 2 before we start trying. That way I have a more self sufficient/independent child before I have another baby that requires 100% help with everything.

All in all, it was a good morning and I got to spend a little adult time talking with Tina which was nice. Her neighborhood is actually having a big yard sale on Saturday morning with a bunch of kids stuff. Matt's going to watch Lily so I can go with Vicky and have a morning out. Hoping to find some good deals since they live in very nice neighborhood!