Adventures in La La Land

1. I had an awful work-week this week.  It rained every day I was there and I was just in a baaaad mood.  Plus Lucy's teeth are bothering her, so she was grumpy too.  It was not fun for anyone. 2. This is random: I love sleep, but I'm scared to fall asleep every night.  I hate giving up control of my body. Have you ever thought how weird it is that for 8 hours a day we're essentially unconscious?  I hate laying there not knowing what I'm going to dream about, or what's happening in my house in the middle of the night.  I have issues. 3. I'm not sure if I ever wrote about Lucy's second tooth - it showed up not long after the first, so now she has the two bottom teeth.  They're still pretty small - not terribly visible - but they're so cute!! Her one year pictures are a week from today, so I hope they pop up a little more for those. 4. Because of my bad mood all week, I wasn't too creative with meals. M - Justin made himself tacos, I had pot...

1. You all convinced me.  Lucy will have an Easter basket this year. :-) 2. After being healthy for all of a week, Lucy has another  cold.  I'm so sick of snot!!! And she is amazingly good at wriggling away from nose-wiping.  Ninja baby. 3. We didn't eat very healthy this week.  Tyson frozen, breaded chicken was on sale.  I'm a sucker for convenience. M - Pizza Hut . . . it was snowing and I refused to leave the house to go grocery shopping, so Justin picked up pizza on his way home from work. T - Chicken nuggets and broccoli W - My winning meal of the week: Artichoke and Feta Quiche.* Yes, you read that right!  It's a recipe from Cook This, Not That , and it actually turned out really well!  None of us had ever had artichoke before.  We were surprised that it's a little spicy!  But it was good, and Lucy gobbled it right down. Th - Chicken sandwiches, baked beans, canned peaches F - Leftovers 4. Lucy is getting really good at...

The other day I asked Chase what Easter is about.  He answered, "The Easter Bunny comes and brings me toys and candy."  Ugh.  Granted he doesn't go to church and his family is not particularly religious, but it still made me sad.  And I worry about Lucy growing up with the same idea. We never had Easter baskets when I was a kid - just a bowl of candy we all shared on the kitchen table.  I never felt deprived or left out.  And I never had any questions about the meaning of Easter. Similarly, we didn't celebrate Halloween.  I did resent that a little.  I didn't see the harm in dressing up and getting a little free candy!  I'm pretty sure we'll let Lucy celebrate Halloween (she dressed up last year). The distinction for me is that Halloween is not a celebration of a Christian holiday.  I don't worry about its meaning being skewed or distorted.  (Actually I kind of encourage its meaning being lost.) I do  worry about the mean...

I forgot a couple things in my Saturday post.  Consider this an addendum . . . 1. Even though the weaning is going fabulously, Lucy will not drink milk.  I've given it to her warm, cold, mixed with breastmilk, etc., etc.  She takes one sip and spits it back out. Hmmm. She eats lots of cheese and yogurt, and loves juice and water in a sippy cup, so I'm not terribly concerned.  But when she's totally done nursing, I think she really is going to need to start drinking milk.  Any other suggestions? 2. I forgot to mention our new fruit and veggies this week.  Fruit: nectarine.  Lucy loved it.  And actually Justin and I don't remember eating nectarines before either, and we enjoyed it as well.  Veggie: zucchini.  I put it in that failed chicken alfredo on Friday and fed it to Lucy with bites of pasta.  The zucchini was mushy, so she didn't even notice it.  FTW! 3. I just have to record this: it is April 18 and an inch of snow a...

1. We had such a nice day last Saturday thanks to the warm weather.  Justin let me sleep in, then we went for a walk on the trail.  We walked about 3 miles and I thought I was going to die.  Yikes.  We finished off the evening with dinner at Logan's and a trip to Wal-Mart - where we got a free rotisserie chicken as we were leaving!! 2. Justin really wants to do some landscaping on our property this year.  Last year he dug out a flowerbed and planted some bulbs.  I stayed inside with our newborn baby.  But this year, I wanted to help.  So I agreed to help him dig 10 holes for trees in our backyard.  Ugh.  I was sore for like 5 days afterward!  Haha. 3. I did a good job cooking again this week.  I think it helps that I know I'm going to report it here.  It keeps me accountable.  Rachel - I'm going to abbreviate the day of the week before each meal. ;-) S- We usually go to one of our parents' houses for dinner on S...

*This is part two of a mini-series on my response to Francis Chan's book Crazy Love .  Please go here to read the first part.* It's taken me this long to write this entry because I feel like I had to offer some sort of conclusion.  Here's the best I've got. :-) When I finished that last entry, I was going to start the next one like this: How many of us are doing  anything to live out our Christianity?  Sure, many of us refrain from getting drunk, swearing excessively, or sleeping around, but what are we doing to further the kingdom? Are we reaching out to the poor, witnessing to the lost, etc? I'll be honest and tell you that about 15 minutes after I finished Crazy Love , I signed up online to sponsor a child through Compassion International.  I felt like I had to DO something right then .  Maybe that was God pressing on my heart, but honestly I think it was fear.  Obviously, sponsoring a child is not a bad thing, and I've enjoyed writing lett...

Today is a golden birthday of sorts for Lucy.  She's 11 months on the 11th.  Woot!  Trying not to be emotional about her 1st birthday being right around the corner . . . So here's the update! Routine Her routine hasn't changed much since the 10 month update except for dropping one nursing session.  Starting today, though, we're going to drop the afternoon nursing session.  If all goes as planned, she'll only be nursing in the morning and at night for the next two weeks - at which point I intend to drop the morning feeding.  Wish us luck! Haha. Sleeping I hope I don't jinx myself by writing this, but sometimes I'm amazed at what a great sleeper Lucy is.  She doesn't take particularly long naps, but she lays right down without a peep and goes to sleep.  I think she takes after her parents a little bit in that respect - the girl loves her bed! I'm also amazed that since she started sleeping through the night at about 8 months, she has never w...

1. I did an amazing job with cooking this week.  Although when I looked back, I realized every meal was full of cheese. Not great for the waistline.  M-homemade mac n' cheese with peppers, T- amazing  white chili, W-cheesy rice with smoked sausage, green beans, and Brussels sprouts, Th-lasagna with spinach! (my first time trying that), F-leftovers.  I'm pretty sure we had vegetables in or with each meal.  That's a major accomplishment for me. 2. Lucy's new vegetables this week were Brussels sprouts and spinach.  She wanted nothing to do with the Brussels sprouts, but she gobbled the spinach right down because it was hidden in lasagna.  (She ate a whole piece of lasagna, btw!) We didn't do a new fruit because I still had lots of grapes and pear leftover from last week that I wanted to finish off. 3. Lucy has officially learned how to climb up stairs.  Fortunately our stairs only go down and the stairs at Chase and Lyla's house have a gate on th...

Here we go again with me being all vulnerable and honest.  This is going to be another difficult entry, but I will try to articulate as clearly as possible.  Put on your thinking caps. :-) Growing up a Christian, I sometimes lamented that I didn't have a radical transformation story.  I was saved at a young age and have spent my life trying to please God.  But somehow I feel like I always fall short.  I wonder often  if I'm pleasing enough to God.  I try to convince myself that I am.  Anytime I get particularly nervous, I flip through my Bible, reading all the verses I've underlined about God delighting  in me.  But the verse that haunts me perhaps more than any other in the whole Bible is this: " . . . faith, by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." (James 2:17)  *Shudder*  I know  that I am saved by grace, not works.  But how many deeds do I need to perform to keep my faith from being dead? This ...

1. This week's new fruit and veggie were pear and avocado.  Lucy loved  the pear and gobbled it right down.  But she spit out every bite of avocado.  I don't blame her.  That stuff is nasty!! 2. Speaking of veggies . . . last week I flipped through a cookbook at Chase and Lyla's house called Deceptively Delicious .   It's by Jessica Seinfeld (Jerry's wife), and is about sneaking veggies into your kids' food.  She purees a bunch of veggies, then gives you ideas of how to add them to kid favorites.  I was thinking about buying a food processor and doing it, when I realized I already have pureed veggies in my cupboard. Baby food! Duh! So on Monday, I made Lucy a grilled cheese sandwich (her fave), and smothered pureed squash on the inside of the sandwich.  She was none the wiser and polished off the whole sandwich! 3. I read an article in the Grand Rapids Press about the Zenz family here in West Michigan.  The dad is an author/illustrat...

Here's my money saving tip of the week: get a store credit card!  Haha.  This is a dangerous tip.  You have to have some self-control, and you have to be sure  to pay the card in full each month.  Store credit cards are notorious for having some of the highest interest rates possible. But, if you can charge responsibly, you can get some really great deals! For instance, I have a Meijer credit card that I use for gas, which gets me 5 cents off every gallon.  (Side tip: if you "like" Meijer on facebook, they give alerts when their gas prices are going up, so you can fill up before they do!) Also, every once in a while - usually on a Monday - you can use your credit card in the store for 15% off general merchandise and 5% off groceries and health and beauty. Similarly, Kohl's has a credit card program with incentives.  Every month, I get a coupon for either 15, 20, or 30% off my entire purchase.  Kohl's is great because they have no restriction...