Pintrest Paradise Post!

A few weeks ago I asked around and got someone to send me an invite to Pintrest to occupy my bedrest time.  It's definitely addicting and I'm enjoying finding new stuff... so I figured I'd share a few of my FAVORITES.  Some of them are now tried and tested, and others are still waiting to be reviewed!

Heart Suncatchers for Valentine's Day

These were super easy.  I have a 4-year old boy who hates crafts, so I turned it into a 2 day deal, haha!  Day one was him writing his name on a bunch of the hearts and me cutting the tissue into little squares.  I only used one piece of red, pink, and white with glitter and ended up with WAY WAY more tissue that I needed... we made 6 of them and I had enough tissue paper to probably do a good 20 or more.  The second day was actually putting the tissue paper inside the hearts.  It's very simple... put down one layer of clear contact paper, put the heart face down (I guess only matters if there's writing... we had John 15:12 and his name) and then fill the inside of the heart with the tissue squares.  "Laminate" with another piece of contact paper and cut them out.  We added a magnet to the back of each, but I've seen some people who use ribbon to hang it. 

Cake Batter Truffles

These were shared by a friend on Facebook, and I had to try.  I LOVE cake batter... I go to a specific yogurt place in town simply because they offer cake batter flavored frozen yogurt.  These are so yummy and SO easy!  The recipe calls for almond bark, but I've been using the Wilton candy melts instead.  They work really well and taste great.  The guys at my husband's work beg for these now!  I'm going to make them with fun V-Day sprinkles for our MOPS group next week!

In This Home We...

I just love this sign.  I don't know that I could make my writing that pretty... I'd probably just have to spend a lot on the right sized scrapbooking stickers... but I just love this for an entryway or kitchen!

Mason Jar Herbs

I don't know that I would do the fancy aspect... I have NO idea where I could hang it... but I love the idea of putting the herbs in mason jars.  It seems like an easy way to move the herbs around if you needed to (for sunlight or whatever), creative, and easy to expand or replant as necessary.  Then if one herb dies, I don't have 1/4 of a planter looking bad. 

Stream of Consciousness Sunday

I feel like my relationship with God isn't where it should be.  I feel like I neglect it so much.  At MOPS they talked about putting things in order... God, Spouse, Kids... I feel like my life is a big balancing act between Spouse and Kids... with God coming in a far third on where I place my time, effort, and energy.  It's not fair... not fair at all.  He deserves so much more from me. 

Then I've also felt really strongly the past week that God wants me to focus on humbling myself.  Humbling myself to Him (because, as our Pastor said this morning, you can either humble yourself or be humbled, regardless, it WILL happen)... humbling myself to my husband... humbling myself in all those situations where I think I'm right so I try to prove myself.  I feel like God is saying "No, I don't want to to do that..."

It's especially hard when I feel judged.  Most parents know that feeling... like every other mom is always judging you for how you raise your kids.  If they don't spank, then you're judged if you do (or vice versa).  If they didn't have an epidural, then you're judged if you do (and vice versa).  If they have their way of parenting that's different from yours, then you're judged... women like to judge... we judge on breastfeeding, being in enough activities, or too many activities, how healthy our kids eat, etc...  It's then that I feel like I have to justify myself.  I feel like God is saying "Just stop... you prayed for wisdom on how to raise Nick... I gave it to you... and it's not the same guidance as I give others... and that's okay."

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This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes.
• Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
• Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
• Link up your post below.
• Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

Hosted by All Things Fadra though I got the idea from Kallay!

Random Musings Friday

{Thanks to Kallay, who got it from Shana, for the Friday blogging idea!}

Happy Friday everyone!  I wish I could say that it feels like Friday or that it was a long/short week or something, but being off work means that all the days run together in a long stream of seemingly non-productive experiences.  Arg.   1.5 more weeks and I can be productive again (or, productive without guilt!)  Here are my random thoughts for Friday...

** Have you ever heard of Norwex?  No?  I hadn't either.  A friend invited me to a Norwex party and, to be honest, I went more because I need to do stuff with other women than because I really cared all too much about a new way to clean my house.  The premise behind Norwex is getting away from all the chemicals we use in cleaning.  It's kind of scary that the air quality IN our homes is often worse than the air quality OUTSIDE.  They sell antibacterial cloths that are great for cleaning and also sanitize without chemicals.  I figured I'd order something small and move on.  I'm not saying I made a huge order, but I did order a few things and I had to review one of them that I am so totally loving right now!!

This is the Norwex dusting mitt and I am LOVING it!  We recently used some Christmas bonus money to purchase a new TV (which made Jon happy because it got rid of the green line, LOL) but it meant we needed a new entertainment center.  Let's just say Jon and I have different ideas about furniture... but I'm really really trying to back off and stop being so overbearing and controlling so when he found one that he really liked, we ordered it.  My biggest issue was that it's black.  Black.  I acutally promised myself at some point 5-6 years ago that I'd never buy another piece of black furniture, LOL!  It shows so much dust and stuff... but then last night at MOPS Amy brought our Norwex stuff and this morning I decided to give the mitt a try on the entertainment center.  I AM SOLD!  That thing is amazing!  Not a single spec of dust and no dusting chemicals that will just grab new dust anyway.  I also ordered an Enviro Cloth, Scrub Cloth, and some Micro Cleaning Hand Pads, but I haven't used those yet so I'll wait to review. 

** OMG did you know that I'm having a baby?!  Really??  You did??  Then could you PLEASE help it click in MY head?!  Yeah, it hasn't clicked.  I keep looking at my phone because I have one of those little Android Apps that tells me how many day left until my due date (March 5th).  Today it says {pause to look at phone} 37 more days.  Wow... 37 days.  I think maybe it's hard to picture that he could be here in a month because it feels like it's still two months away... you know, because it's January and I'm not due until March.  So there's still two more months, right?  Right?  Well, if I'm correct and he's late, then I guess it could be closer to two months, right?

** How is it that I'm the only one home all day long... yet I swear every day the house is messy, and it's not Jon and Nick?  How can one person who isn't really doing much of anything make a house so messy? 

** I spent 30 minutes this morning trying to turn a lightbulb into a Valentine's Day gift for Jon.  The result?  I'm on the lookout for a new idea...

Thankful Thursday

I'm not sure where to start here... especially when, in all fairness, I should probably be folding laundry and organizing the files.  I'll get there :)  I figure I'll start by picking a person or thing that I'm thankful for and elaborate.  The first few months I get the "easy" people because they're the people closest to me in life :)

* Jon Sindell *

Yeah, he's pretty awesome!  Jon and I met back in junior high.  We were both band nerds and then both went to Centennial.  I developed a crush on him then, but was way too scared to do or say anything.  When we graduated high school, I was dead set on going out of state for college, so I headed off to NAU.  I'm very thankful for that experience, AND for the fact that it only lasted a semester before it was clear that it wasn't the place for me.  I came back to Bakersfield and, one night, decided to run to Barnes and Noble.  I didn't find anything, but figured I'd kill time going next door to CompUSA.  I had no idea that my crush worked there.  We talked a bit and I guess I gave him my number (though I don't remember that part!) and things got started.  He left for AF Basic not too long after that, but we kept in touch.  We started dating shortly later and in July 2004 we were engaged while on a birthday trip to Disneyland.  September 2005 I flew to Alaska where Jon was stationed and we were legally married (by his friends :P) and in December 2005 we had a wonderful wedding ceremony with family and friends.  In May 2007 I got to see my amazing husband become a father and it was such a beautiful thing to see.  Now it's January 2011 and sometime in the next 5 weeks or so, I get to see him become a father for the second time.

Has our marriage been perfect?  Good gosh no!  We went through a period that was miserable and hard and painful.  But I am SO thankful for a husband who never for one second gave up.  He fought for our marriage and for me like I never imagined a man would fight.  Despite it seeming like he was constantly leaving for work, he worked so hard to make sure that deployments would never again hurt our relationship... and because of that, they started to make us stronger!  He sacrificed so much for me to be able to get my credential and gave me the encouragement and support I needed to be successful. 

I'm thankful for a husband who is creative and imaginative.  I love getting to watch him put together videos.  I love that no matter what he's working on, he always pushes himself (and his computer ;) to the limit.  He loves getting the chance to use his talent to create videos for the church and for God. 

I'm thankful for a husband who thinks for himself.  He doesn't take anything at face value and always does his own research. 

I'm thankful for a husband who finds a way to make a huge pregnant woman feel beautiful and small.

I'm thankful for a husband who is a REALLY good daddy.  He teaches Nicholas how to be a gentleman, how to pray, and how to play jokes on mommy! 

I'm thankful for a husband who knows so much more about God's word than I do.  It's so special that he can teach me and enlighten me when we're doing Bible studying together. 

I am so thankful for the amazing man that God has so generously allowed me to share my life with!

Overwhelmed by Baby Shower Generosity!

Saturday was SUCH a blessed day!  My mom graciously threw me a baby shower.  It wasn't too big, partially because it was touch and go on whether my doc would let me travel, but in the end I was just overwhelmed with how kind and generous our friends and family were!

We recieved a BUNCH of diapers in NB-2.  I opened one package to stock the diaper organizer and just couldn't believe how TINY they are!  I had forgotten how little newborn diapers are.  I couldn't help but think about how tiny his little booty would be to fit into those little diapers!

We also got a bunch of clothes in various sizes!  We closed a lot of the gaps we had in what we needed and got some of the most adorable little clothes!  I love the onesies and gowns and can't wait to see our little man in them!  Now Baby Brother has socks too (silly, but he had none, lol)!

The blankets we got were also awesome!  We got some soft blankets that will be so perfect for floor blankets and car seats, and my grandma spoiled us with a BIG supply of swaddeling blankets.  She always makes us flannel recieving blankets because she makes them a lot bigger so they're great for swaddling tight.  Every blanket also came with a matching burp cloth that's big and contoured... so great!!  We even got some great little monkey blankets that match the crib bedding AND are just adorable on their own!

My mom got us a breastfeeding "kit" so to speak!  She blessed us with my pump, breastpads, milk storage bags, bibs (that are REALLY cool!), bottles, and the adorable monkey hamper! 

Not to menion my AMAZING friends, Tara, Jodi, and Stacy, coming together to get the high chair!  I know a lot of people don't use it until later, but with Nick we were using the high chair on recline when Nick was 4-6 weeks old so he could be at the table with us for meals.  Nicholas is ADAMENT about him being with us at dinnertime, so I'm very thankful that we already have this!

We also got gift cards, so I was able to make a BRU run and get the bath tub, baby carrier (Jon is super excited!!!), extra crib sheets, piddle pad for the carseat, and some other stuff. 

I feel almost silly putting out of list of what we got, but I really am overwhelmed by how generous people were!!  Last night I went through everything and started to put the clothes away and organize the diapers and just felt this bigger sense of relief.  There are only 2 more "big" items that we need and I'll order those at the end of the week.  I know that we're ready for the little man to come whenever God has planned!  It is so true how he meets all of our needs!  He has supplied us with everything we could possibly ask for!  We don't deserve any of the special things that make parenting easier and more convienient but He gives them to us out of love... how amazing!!!!

Speaking of, I feel great and I am SO excited about that!  As much as I feel MASSIVE (and have now gained 3 pounds more at 34 weeks than I was at 39 weeks when I had Nick), my cramping is pretty much gone and I have gobs of energy.  I can't wait for another week and a half when I can really put that energy to good use!  Nicholas got to test out Just Dance Kids at Kid's Park and loved it so I might have to pick that up so that on February 6 I can get up and get some exercise!  I am so ready!

Labor Check & Feeling Stupid...

So yesterday I ended up feeling like a complete idiot. {TMI Warning} I've been spotting for a while and my doctor has checked it out and said we're good unless it increases a lot or it comes with cramping or contractions.  So the night before last I start to feel kind of weird and I start having some minor period-like cramps.  I went to bed and slept fine (or as well as a preggo sleeps :P) and woke up the next morning and the spotting seemed like it had gotten a little worse.  As the morning went on I did absolutely nothing but sit on the couch, browse Pintrest, and watch Season 7 of Hell's Kitchen but the spotting kept coming and it felt like the cramping was the same.  Soooo... I called the doc.  Better safe than sorry, right?  I figured she'd have me come in, check for dialating, and send me home.  No biggie?  But instead she sent me to the hospital for a labor check.  They did an FFN (which came back negative!!) and checked me (1cm, which is absolutely nothing to worry about) and hooked me up to monitors.

Which brings me to feeling stupid.  I feel like it ended up being a big fuss over absolutely nothing.  Aside from what the nurse called an "irritable uterus," (random hardening but not regular contractions)  I was perfectly fine.  I wish I hadn't even called in the first place because I was totally overreacting.  To make matters worse, because of the irritable uterus, my doc had them give me a shot of terbutaline.  Of course, I don't research it right away (because I naively trust the docs) and then Jon does some research on it.  Nevermind the side effects to me (which I can handle) but my concerns are Baby Brother.  The possible side effects to him have me totally freaked out.  So now I feel even MORE stupid that I called my doc over what ended up being nothing and ended up getting meds that aren't good for the baby.

Live and learn.  Unless I'm seriously worried I'm in active labor, I'm not calling the doc.  She had said to let her know about any cramping but now I feel stupid because I've done this before, and I know how labor feels so if I don't think I'm actually IN labor, I'm just laying down. I know that my cervix puts me at higher risk for preterm labor, but we're only 2.5 weeks from the "magic" 36 week mark anyway. 

Revewing a Recipe, Project, & Learning Toy

We are now 33 weeks pregnant... crazy!!!  I'm getting huge... I have to ask Jon to take a good belly picture for me.  At this point I don't even have one for Baby Monkey's baby book!  My weight gain has FINALLY slowly down, so while I'm still at the weight gain I was at when I had Nicholas... I've been at that point for about 3 weeks now.  It's also hitting me that we're getting closer and there is a lot we don't have yet.  There are a few big items we're still missing, but I've been asked to hold off until the shower on Saturday.  I'm looking forward to seeing people on Saturday though!  This will be the last trip we take home before Monkey comes (I believe) so I'm excited to get some girl time in!

Anyway... time to review 3 awesome things!!  First... a recipe I found on pintrest that I made last night!

Chicken Enchiladas w/Chili Sauce

These Chicken Enchiladas are absolutely delicious!  I didn't use the jalepenos because I forgot to grab them at the store (which was good for me because spicy is hard for me right now, but I know that Jon would have absolutely LOVED it with some kick), and I also just used a regular mexican blend of cheese instead of the white cheddar and monterey jack.  They were DELICIOUS!  A few things before you make them though... they took me a long time.  It was totally worth the flavor, but I underestimated how long it would take so Nicholas ended up having a PB&J roll up with apples because I didn't think he should have to keep waiting.  Though, when they WERE done, and he tried them, he liked them (so kiddo approved)!!  Also, somehow I managed to forget the one cup of water, haha... they were still really good, but they will be better next time when I have more sauce!  Definitely worth a try and it's not big on processed food at all!

Nicholas' Chore Chart



I'm definitely not trying to toot my own horn on this one, because it wasn't my idea to begin with.  If you check out Pinrest, I found a BUNCH of examples to go by and this is just what I came up with.  That being said, this has been a GREAT thing!  Nicholas absolutely LOVES it!  He knows what is expected of him, and is very proud of himself when he gets them all turned over.  I love that it reminds me to do his homework practice (because I've been saying for MONTHS that we needed to be doing that nightly, but then I got busy and forgot often) and it reminds us to practice his memory verse.  His church has a memory verse every month so, for now, we're just doing that one (Matthew 19:26 this month!)... but once he gets a bit faster at memorizing (which I expect will come soon!) we'll go to one every other week and then one a week.  I haven't found a good place to put the chore chart yet.  I had all these plans for the menu board and the chore chart before I made them, but then I realized that his chart would be too high for him to flip the cards himself.  So now I'm kind of back in "figure out a good place" mode.  But seriously... this has been a GREAT investment!  We've had all the standard chore charts when they have the grid and use the stickers and that kind of thing... but somehow this has just got him really excited and it's working way better than ALL the other methods I've tried.

Crayola Dry Erase Activity Center

I got one of these for a friend's child because she's super into school-type stuff.  While I was at it, I grabbed one for Nicholas because, while he ISN'T into school-type stuff, he NEEDS handwriting practice like nobody's business.  Love the kiddo and he's making great improvement, but kindergarten expectations are high now so I knew we needed some practice.  I have more workbooks than we can count.  I probably have 5-6 around here that go over all the preschool skills.  I'm not saying those are bad at all; in fact, I grabbed a smaller manageable sized one for Nick when I was getting all the cards for the chore chart and menu chart laminated.  But that being said, at some point I get tired of having the paper everywhere from letter and name practice.  Sometimes it's great because I can save them, but every other time it's annoying because I feel like I SHOULD save them but I can't save every little paper he writes on (trust me, his plastic bin is overflowing!).  He has dry erase handwriting boards already, but this comes with templates that are perfect and it means that I can make my own templates so he can trace new things easy before doing them himself.  The templates go through all letters, upper and lower, all numbers, games, and a few blank ones that you could write what you wanted (sight words, name, etc...).  His school just restarted their yearly sight words so I'm going to be using those as well!



PROJECTS FINISHED!

I finished the two projects I've been working on this week.  I saw some ideas on Pintrest and decided to create and modify them to fit our family.  One is a chore chart for Nicholas, and the other is a menu board.  They aren't 100% done because the hooks need adjustments (especially on the menu board) but they're done enough that I can finally clean up the living room... AND post pictures.  I never thought they would take so much time, especially making about 40-50 meal cards for the menu board.  The pictures are from my phone because I can't find the adapter for my camera (which I'm giving up on and buying a new one because Jon's poor grandma has been waiting WAY WAY WAY too long for the pictures from Christmas :( )

Nicholas Chore Chart

He has 8 "chores."  It sounds like a lot, but many of them are so basic that I don't feel guilty.  He has to put his dishes in the sink (morning/night), brush his teeth (morning/night), do his homework pages, practice his memory verse, pick up his toys, etc... As he gets older they will get modified to more difficult things like vaccuuming and dusting.

When he does something for the day, we turn the card over and it has a star that says "I did it!"

The bottom right lists the rewards he can earn.  This is something we struggled with a LOT.  Chores are his way of helping the family, which he should be doing WITHOUT reward because he's part of the family.  But we decided that the other things he does when we ask, like help with dinner, sweep the kitchen, etc... are things he needs to do because he is told to do.  The other things are things we ask of him because they will make our life easier when Baby Brother comes.  So for each day that he completes ALL the items, he gets a sticker.  5 stickers get a Jamba Juice or Yogurt; if he decides to save them instead he can earn a Hot Wheels for 10 stickers; if he has a LOT of patience and can wait for 15 stickers, he gets to go to Boomers and race the go-karts with daddy a few times.

Behind the card that tells his rewards is the blank one where we'll put his stickers as he earns them.  We let him have one sticker to get him started :)



Our Menu Chart

I was excited to see ideas on Pintrest for making the menu something that could actually look nice on a wall, insetad of something I wrote down randomly.  I also liked the idea that these could be easily changed as life changes, and that I start out with a box full of ideas to pull from.  This is adapted from about 5-10 that I found and liked, and I changed it to make it work for me.  You can see that some of the hooks aren't quite right, so I'll have to go back and fix that later.

Each hook can hold at least 2 menu cards, so I can actually use this for two week menu planning.  I always plan for two weeks so I think this will work better for me.  One of the Pintrest ideas put the ingredients on the back of each card to make a shopping list easier, but cutting out the red part, white part, gluing, laminating, etc... took enough time that I didn't want to mess with that.

The box holds the menu cards, minus the 14 that will be on the board at any given time.  I placed the sticky part higher up on the hook for this because I thought it might need a bit more stability.  I don't like that you can see the white, but I also don't want the box falling down.  Some cards are doubled because they're things I do often, especially in the summer... like I might grill chicken 2-3 times using different sauces and marinades.  I also made cards for leftover night, eating out, and date nights :)

The menu cards aren't painfully specific, because even by being vague ("veggie") I ended up with almost more cards than I could handle.



Fill-In-The-Blank Friday

It's 11:22 but I am WIDE awake.  Today was nice; I was able to get my current two craft projects nearly done.  I rarely get kind of lost in a project, but the things I'm working on now have taken up considerably more time than I anticipated.  I was able to get a lot done though, and it's all bedrest friendly (for my mom who is very concerned that I'm overtaxing myself... I promise, I'm not ;)  I also went to Norwex party tonight.  Aside from seeing the cool stuff, it was nice just to get to sit and talk with other women for a while. 

On to Fill-In-The-Blank Friday... courtesy of Kallay...

1. The last thing I ate was  a piece of toast on using bread I baked this morning... yum!

2. The last song I listened to was "There Will Be a Day" by Jeremy Camp

 

3. Using the letters in my name {Jessica} I can spell: case, ace, ice, CIA...

4. If I had to dress in one color for the rest of my life I would choose Blue... its my favorite color, I like all of it's various shades, and I live in jeans

5. If you were to look in my bag right now you’d find my wallet, my morning sickness meds (why are those still in there?), my chapstick, boxes of raisins (eww, they're for Nick), a notepad for coloring, black tea bag (huh?), my Bible, my Nook, my phone, my keys, various appointment cards for past appointments, a random check stub...

6. When I finish filling in the blanks I’m going to go to bed!  I have this weird pain at the top of my stomach that I'm hoping will get better with sleep.

7. My all time favorite song to dance to is Cotton Eye Joe?  I can't dance, but I remember Ani teaching us the dance to that song at Kodiak Jacks in Fairbanks and it was fun!

 

Sweet Dreams!

Nicholas' Answered Prayer

There are two things that we really try to teach Nicholas about God. One is that if it's important to you, it's important to Him. We want him to know he can go to God with ANYTHING that's on his heart. The second thing is that God answers when you go to Him. So today was REALLY cool! The little guy has a cough so on the way home from school (I picked him up after doc appt #2) I told him we'd get him medicine. I had wondered why he used to cry and fuss over medicine but in the last few months takes it without a single complaint. This is what he told me:

"Mommy, did you know that when I was a baby the medicine was really yucky, but now it's not yucky anymore?"
"Really?  I'm glad it's not yucky now though!"
"Yeah, it's 'cause I prayed and I asked God to please make the medicine not yucky anymore and then I had to take medicine and it wasn't yucky!! He fixed it!"

There's something so special to me about him starting to understand that God is real, God is there, and God IS listening to us!  It reminds me about a childlike faith!  His memory verse this month is about how all things are possible with God... I LOVE that he's starting to see this incredible truth for himself!!

Good news from the specialist!!!

Today was a long day... two doctor's appointments with a Subway stop at Jon's work in between!  I saw my OB and everything looks good... I'm measuring right on and baby's heartbeat was beautiful.  She also took a look at the history with the perientologist and said that, with my measurements steadily going down until I was put on bedrest, she doesn't want to mess with anything... so I'm officially off work until 6-8 weeks post-partum.  I talked to my school and district admin and I'm getting an AWESOME long term sub.  She's actually in my room this week and will just continue on now!

I also saw the perientologist and got some good news!  I'm still maintaining!  I lost .2cm, but that's no biggie at this point.  Baby is doing great.  I'm a BIT confused about how he's measuring... she said he's measuring "perfect to your due date" but then I could have sworn she said he was 4 1/2 pounds, which would be BIG at this point.  I may have misheard her though... 4 pounds would be  little closer to "normal" haha!  I'm very thankful that bedrest is working and that everything is staying good.  The peri said he has full confidence that the little guy will go to his due date, which makes me one happy mama!

I'm feel very, very blessed right now.  I'm sitting here on the couch looking around and I can't help but just want to praise God.  I have a healthy little boy who is doing great in school and learning so much.  I have an amazing husband who loves me more than anyone in the world, and SHOWS it daily.  I have a big ol' tummy because God is allowing us to raise another one of His children.  My life is FULL and I couldn't be more thankful!!

Music Monday & what "EVERYTHING" means...

Today was, to be honest, stressful.  I realized that my plan of e-mailing lesson plans daily for the sub was just going to be more trouble than it was worth... so I was determined to get the entire week planned out and ready to go... in about 2.5 hours.  For a veteran teacher, probably easy.  For a newbie like me?  Stressful.  But I managed to get 4 days of lesson plans for 3 different preps done.  I spent about 30 minutes on campus making copies and sorting everything into nice, labeled, easy-to-understand piles and gave my sub letters for the week to 2 different people to make sure everyone knew what should be happening.  AND, I was able to do it all while only needing to be on my feet for about 45 minutes.  Not bad! 

So before I post the lyrics to what's playing in my head today, I thought I'd give a quick run down of what's on my heart (because it kind of goes with the lyrics).  Yesterday at The Well, we continued in 1 Corinthians 4:1-12.  There Paul talks about what real Christian living looks like.  It doesn't mean using your status as "Christian" to build yourself up, but to become a servant.  He talked about how so many churches almost trick people into becoming believers by not really telling them what they're getting themselves into.  Yes, you gain salvation and a Redeemer... but it's so much more than than a 2 minute prayer and then you've got a fast track ticket to heaven no matter how you live.  It's not like you get to say a 2 minute prayer and God makes your life all better... at least, it SHOULDN'T be.

The quote that the teaching pastor used was "All God asks of you is one thing: EVERYTHING."  Our pastor added on to that with a question/challenge: "What does 'everything' look like?"  It's different for everyone person... and Paul even tells us not to compare our walk with God to others as a measuring stick.  We won't be measured by how much "better" we were than Sally or how much "worse" we were than Jim.  We'll be measured by how much of what we've been given we give back to God.  So are we giving our everything?  God has given us everything... including his CHILD... so is how we're living reflective of our desire to give God our everything?  Just food for thought that's on my heart.  So in that vein, here is my song for Music Mondays: "Do Everything" by Steven Curtis Chapman:

You’re picking up toys on the living room floor for the 15th time today

Matching up socks and sweeping up lost Cheerios that got away
You put a baby on your hip, color on your lips and head out the door
While I may not know you I bet I know you wonder sometimes
Does it matter at all
Let me remind you it all matters just as long as you

Do everything you do to the glory of the One who made you
Cause He made you
To do every little thing that you do to bring a smile to His face
And tell the story of grace with every move that you make
In every little thing you do

Maybe you’re that guy with the suit and tie
Or maybe your shirt says your name
You may be hooking up mergers or cooking up burgers
But at the end of the day
Little stuff, big stuff, in between stuff
God sees it all the same
While I may not know you I bet I know you wonder sometimes
Does it matter at all
Let me remind you it all matters just as long as you

Do everything you do to the glory of the One who made you
Cause He made you
To do every little thing that you do to bring a smile to His face
And tell the story of grace with every move that you make
In every thing that you do

Maybe you’re sitting in math class
Or maybe on a mission in the Congo
Maybe you’re working at the office
Singing along with the radio
Or maybe you’re dining at a five star
Feeding orphans in Myanmar
Anywhere and everywhere you are
Whatever you do it all matters
So do what you do, don’t ever forget

To do everything you do to the glory of the One who made you
Cause He made you
To do every little thing that you do to bring a smile to His face
And tell the story of grace as you

Do everything you do to the glory of the One who made you
Cause He made you
To do every little thing that you do to bring a smile to His face
And tell the story of grace with every move that you make
In every little thing you do

Current Things I'm Loving...

Everyone says that you get cravings during pregnancy... and they're right.  With Nicholas it was pizza.  The GOOD thing about it was that I only craved the kind of pizza you get at a resturant (Boston's was my favorite place in Fairbanks, AK) and because Eielson was a good 30-45 minutes away from Fairbanks and my craving usually came late at night... I wasn't able to indulge my craving very often.  Thus, I gained little weight and everything was good.  This time around I crave sweets, and being within a 2 mile radius of who knows how many stores means that I've given into that craving WAY too often and have probably gained too much weight so far.  Regardless, my latest craving is actually healthy so I figure turning it practically into a meal isn't TOO bad, right?  :P

I crave oranges, or more specifically, orange citrus (oranges, tangerines, mandarins).  I blame our CSA.  About a month ago they had tangerines on the product list so I grabbed a few pounds... and ate them all within a week... by myself.  In my defense, organically grown tangerines are little, LOL!  Then my aunt gave us a few pounds of fresh oranges... that I also ate... within a week... by myself.  It's an addiction.  The good thing is that I really am listening to my body and trying to eat only when I'm hungry... so the citrus has replaced other stuff (that probably wasn't all that great for the growing Monkey anyway).  Yesterday I got one of the 98 cent bags at Fresh & Easy... it's already gone.  Baby Monkey is getting plenty of Vitamin C :P

Another thing we're LOVING lately is one of my Christmas presents...

Please tell me that people out there remember playing this at Centennial!  Now they have it for XBox (and Wii and PS3) and it's awesome!  We played for a few hours last night with the Wanke's and had a BLAST!  If you happen to have already purcahsed Scene It for the XBox, then you can also use the buzzers for that game and it makes it easier and more fun!  You can't be easily offended, and you should probably enjoy them making huge fun of celebrities... but it's great!

I'd love to post a few more things we're currently addicted to (ahem... Pintrest... best friend of a pregnant girl on bedrest!!!), but the little guy is asking for rainbow pancakes and since all I've had today is a tangerine... my stomach is growling... time to oblige!  Rainbow pancakes it is!

Getting ready for the Monkey!

We're getting closer to being ready for the little Monkey to make his appearance.  Over the weekend Jon put the furniture together and moved the office so that his bedroom is his.  Tonight when Becki, Mark, Daniel, and Parker got here, Nicholas was so excited to show them his little brother's room!  I just ordered the bedding and some decals for the walls (because we can't paint).  There's more that I'd like to get for the room as well, but I'm holding off for now.  I just ordered the 4 piece bedding set and I'm going to see about getting brown and green coordinates for a bit cheaper than the matching stuff!

I also finished the pre-registration at the hospital.  I did most of it online a long time ago but I still had to go to sign a few papers and give them copies of my ID and Insurance card.  My doctor kindly reminded me that I needed to get that done, LOL.  It made me a bit sad though.  I don't know why, but this whole time I've just had this little video in my mind of Nicholas meeting little Monkey.  It would probably be the day after he was born but he would come into the hospital and we'd have the video and camera ready and he'd get to meet his baby brother there.  I had these pictures in my mind of Nicholas in the hospital bed with me and baby and everything.  Heck, this whole time I think I've been just as excited to introduce Nicholas to the baby as I was to meet him myself!!  They told me today that Nicholas won't be allowed to visit us at all.  I'm not sure if it's all the time or just during flu season, but nobody under 12 is allowed past the 1st floor lobby.  I asked the registration clerk and she said that would still apply to siblings.  I had heard of that rule, but I thought most hospitals had an exception for siblings.  I'm going to ask my doctor when I go in next week, just to find out how strict they are about it.  She only delivers there so I'm guessing she'll kind of know the drill.

It's very cool to be getting ready for the little guy.  I felt bad that Jon had to do the furniture by himself, but I'm so thankful for a husband who did it without even a tiniest complaint.  I was able to just sit down and go through the clothes we've collected and see what we have in each size.  It got us both even more excited to meet the Monkey!